Aged Care Qld is today voicing its’ disappointment at the federal government’s budget saying yet again residents and providers have been let down, Aged Care Qld CEO Anton Kardash said.
“This budget will push more operators who are on the brink closer to closing their doors, the federal government knows full well of their plight and has ignored it” Mr Kardash said.
Aged care remains one of the country’s largest employers , yet the budget has done little or nothing to ensure even the short term the viability of the industry.
“Have a look around , Australia has an ageing population but no one is building aged care centres because as an investment you’d be better off putting your money under a mattress “Mr Kardash said.
Aged Care Qld says the fact industry funding is not matched to CPI is no longer acceptable, in what other industry would you be expected to pick up the governments funding slack, year in year out?
The Aged Care industry struggles to attract and retain qualified staff yet this budget makes this task even harder , you would think after all of the bailouts the government implemented during the global financial crisis, aged care would receive some sort of help , but again we have been left short” Mr Kardash said.
Shunting Aged Care yet again to an enquiry, this time by the Productivity Commission into the aged care sector means that if or when any positive change were implemented , the industry wouldn’t benefit for at least another year , most likely two.
“ And that is just too far away , governments past and present have been stretching the aged care rubber band for too long , relying on providers and staff to make do with less , now they’re at breaking point” Mr Kardash said.
Aged Care Qld welcomes the funding towards electronic record keeping as a small step in the right direction , Mr Kardash says this will certainly assist in ensuring better patient medication management within centres .
“Medication management is a key issue facing staff on the ground everyday , while we believe this will have tangible benefit , Mr Kardash said
Aged care as we know it is under threat and the good will of many of the providers and their staff is being abused by the government , I fear this can’t and won’t go on for much longer before the industry falls into crisis” he said.
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