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National Aged Care Conference Communique

The 2012 National Aged Care Conference, hosted by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, was held on 6 and 7 August at the Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia.

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2012 National Aged Care Conference Living Longer Living Better Communique

The 2012 National Aged Care Conference, hosted by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, was held on 6 and 7 August at the Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia.

The conference was an interesting and energetic two days and brought together over 1000 delegates to share ideas in the context of the Living Longer Living Better aged care reform package that was unveiled by the Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP and Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler MP on 20 April 2012.

Day one of the conference showcased the aged care reform package, while day two focused on aged care assessment in the context of the package. The conference explored key themes of the aged care reform package, including: Access, Choice and Control, Quality, Wellness and Re-ablement. Dr Sally Cockburn was the Master of Ceremonies, ensuring all delegates focused on the relevant issues, as always providing some light entertainment through her uplifting session on “Looking after yourself”. Aunty Josie Agius of the Kaurna people expressed great community spirit, making everyone feel extremely welcome in Adelaide during her Welcome to Country.

The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler, MP opened the conference with an engaging address outlining some of the detail, background, challenges and opportunities presented by the reforms. “Living Longer Living Better does deal with all of those challenges and it responds to the community’s expectations of what aged care should look like, not just in the next few years but the next couple of decades”.

Professor Peter Shergold, Chair of the Aged Care Reform Implementation Council gave a presentation on implementing reform. Professor Shergold discussed the need for decisive and honest action, and effective policy implementation, stating “Aged care is a repayment by society of a debt incurred”. Ms Ita Buttrose, President of Alzheimer’s Australia, spoke about ‘giving dementia the attention it deserves’. She asserted that “people with dementia are people”, and emphasised the need to remove the negative stigma surrounding dementia.

The Conference provided a number of opportunities for participants to ask questions following panel and concurrent sessions throughout the two days. A panel discussion on the “Future of Aged Care” gave a range of perspectives on the topic, from consumers, providers, workforce and government. Another panel session discussed the topic, “Navigating the Aged Care System - Challenges and Opportunities”.

Mr Craig Harris from the Department of Health and Ageing emphasised the pivotal point of the new Aged Care Gateway, “We must provide a better solution for the community to navigate the system, gain access to appropriate assessment and ultimately access services that meet their assessed needs.”

Throughout the conference, the role of carers in the reforms was unmistakeable. Ms Ara Cresswell, CEO of Carers Australia stated, “A consumer focused system is absolutely essential.”

Both days saw a range of concurrent presentations about the key themes of the reforms, and included insightful and innovative approaches. These concluded with a Question and Answer session, resulting in interesting and meaningful discussion. Professor Kathy Eagar, provided insight into her work on a National Aged Care Assessment Framework. Professor Eagar suggested, “There is a need to start to improve the interface between the acute and aged care sector to decrease duplication of assessment and direct funding to more services”.

Ambassador for Ageing, Ms Noeline Brown gave a plenary address on Healthy Active Ageing, remarking “Older people want to live with dignity and security” and reminded delegates of the enormous contribution made by older people. Ms Brown also voiced her appreciation of aged care workers; “people who work in aged care are truly dedicated people and are heroes in my eyes”.

Throughout the conference there was a real sense of engagement. Mr Martin Laverty, CEO of Catholic Health Australia summed it up when he said, “How unique is it to have industry providers, consumer representatives, unions and governments working collectively?” The conference was a starting point for much broader engagement about aged care reform. As Ms Carolyn Smith from the Department of Health and Ageing indicated “change brings uncertainty, we need to work through this together.”

The key addresses and plenary sessions of the conference were streamed live online via the conference website. About 800 people viewed these on the day, while over 1000 people have gone back to watch the recorded versions, which are still available on the National Aged Care Conference 2012 website at www.conference2012.agedcare.gov.au.

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