Industry Body Demands Support for ‘Top 4’ Issues in First Days of Government

Leading peak body for aged care services Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) have demanded that any incoming Government act on the ‘Top 4’ issues in aged care within the first 100 days of Government.

“While age services may be currently seen as a ‘sleeping giant’ and not worthy of attention, age services is a clear and present challenge for all Governments” said Patrick Reid, CEO of LASA.

LASA said in a statement that they believe the needs of age service consumers had been largely ignored in the 2013 Federal Election with few announcements or policies being directed to the aged care industry.

The top four issues as outlined by LASA include scrapping the means testing of residential accommodation deposits, announce a cost-of-care study to ensure funding matches the true cost of quality care, equalise the annual cap calculation for home care and residential care and to commit to improve the Aged Care Approval Round (ACAR) process.

The latest Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) received 106,000 applications for only 5,835 places, making access to aged care services as a matter of chance rather than a right for older Australians.

“The Top 4 is just the beginning” said Mr Reid.

“Red tape does not facilitate growth and innovation, it ties it up and in the age services industry this will have dramatic and negative consequences. Both major parties have committed to looking at cutting red tape, but LASA seeks a commitment that they will move from simply looking to actually acting” he said.