RORY MCCLAREN, HOST: So how is a fresh round of federal grant funding trying to address the issues with supply? Sam Rae is the Federal Minister for Aged Care and Seniors – Minister, welcome.
SAM RAE, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND SENIORS: Good morning, Rory. Thank you for having me.
HOST: The grants the Commonwealth is giving five aged care providers in Adelaide is set to help build 268 beds. When will these beds become available?
RAE: Well, you’re very right, Rory. This announcement today is just part of our latest work to boost bed supply within our residential aged care sector. We knew that we had an issue with undersupply here in metropolitan Adelaide, and it’s why we announced this special round of capital assistance grants.
Now, our ambition here is to get these beds obviously on board as quickly as possible. And we said from the beginning that we would aim for a two-year turnaround from the time that we announced the funding to get through to the construction. Now, as we all know, construction timelines can be a little rubbery, Rory, but the Department is going to work really closely with the providers and with the construction partners. We’ll still aim for that two-year mark, but importantly, we’ll get these beds online as quickly as we possibly can.
HOST: When it comes to delivery timelines, was that part of the application process?
RAE: There’s always a consideration around what can be delivered within the timeframe that we’re looking for. You know, as you’d imagine when it comes to government grant decision making, we want to make sure that we’re getting the best value for taxpayers. We’ve got this ageing population, and with 90,000 Australians having an 80th birthday this year, we went through the process of identifying some key areas where we needed to urgently boost supply. Adelaide was one of those four key areas nationally that we identified, and so we looked at how to bring beds online as quickly as possible so that we can look after older people across our community.
HOST: What process was used to select these successful projects? How were they decided upon?
RAE: Well, as you might know, we announced this special round of investments in March just three months ago, and so there was a very rapid process that the Department undertook. And they do that at arm’s length from the Minister’s office and from politicians, and that’s appropriate. So they went through a very rapid process. There was an expression of interest from providers across the sector, and then they chose from those expressions of interest the projects that were going to meet the policy objective here. Again, we want to bring as many beds as possible online. We want to do it quickly and we want a really high standard of care to be delivered through this part of the project. So they made those decisions, and that’s how we got to a situation where we’re effectively partnering with the sector here in Adelaide. We’re able to unlock $134 million of investment in new aged care beds, 268 beds as you said.
HOST: If these five Adelaide projects didn't receive federal funding, would they go ahead?
RAE: Well, it's an interesting question, Rory. I think what we've seen is that there's been a ‘constipation’, if you will, of residential aged care projects here in Adelaide. It's why we recognised that there was this specific challenge here in Adelaide. As I said, there are a few other places around the country as well. What we're certainly not seeing is residential aged care projects coming online at the rate which we require them. We're effectively running at 100 per cent capacity in residential aged care across metropolitan Adelaide. Now, we've spent more than a billion dollars, over the last four years on our capital program to boost supply across the country. But there are some markets where it's just still been a little bit slow to get off the mark. So, with this rapidly ageing population, with demand for aged care services where it’s at, we want to work with the sector, with the state government to bring on beds and services as quickly as possible.
HOST: Just back to the question though, Minister, one of the flagship sites here that's getting funding as part of this particular announcement, the ACH Group's Dover Gardens residential aged care facility, that group announced plans for that facility at $70 million back in December last year. They're hoping to get construction up and going in the second half of this year. So, they were clearly well advanced with this before the federal money came on board.
RAE: Well, all of these projects have had a long lead time. In order to bring a project on in just two years, it needs to be relatively advanced, Rory. The average residential aged care project usually takes about five to seven years from the point of inception to the point of actually delivering services for people. So, when we were looking through the expressions of interest, we were looking for projects that were already relatively advanced in terms of their planning and their design, and obviously thinking about what their capital stack would look like. This is about the Federal Government partnering with the sector, with those providers, such as that provider that you just spoke about, to unlock a very large amount of non-government funding. So the Federal Government put in $34.5 million, but we're unlocking $134 million worth of capital investment through this project.
HOST: How confident are you that this additional 268 beds will help with the issue of hospital bed block here in South Australia? Because we know the state government has been very quick at various points to push back on your tier of government when it comes to compounding the problems that the state's health system is facing.
RAE: Well, we talk about this in terms of delayed discharge for respectful reasons, Rory, and we've worked really closely with the South Australian Government, who I must say have been a really constructive partner in dealing with this very longstanding and very complex issue. There are a whole range of reasons why older people get stuck within the tertiary hospital system. I should say, in some cases with some conditions, hospitals are the best place for some people to be…
HOST: But access to timely aged care placements is definitely one of those contributing factors to bed-block.
RAE: It is, Rory. You're absolutely right about that. And that's why we have been working so closely with Minister Boyer, with Minister Picton before that, to partner up between federal and state government to find ways to unblock the system, to make sure that older people are getting the most appropriate care for them. Last year, the Federal Government and the state governments did a historic hospital deal that has substantially increased funding across the country, but particularly here in South Australia.
Today, Minister Picton as the Acting Minister, will be getting up with me. I've regularly stayed in contact with both Minister Picton and Minister Boyer all throughout the last year, looking at options for how we can partner together to get outcomes for older people.
HOST: That is the voice of Sam Rae. He's the Federal Minister of Aged Care and Seniors here on 891 ABC Adelaide Mornings. We're talking about some federal funding. It’s about $34.5 million worth of federal funding, which is helping facilitate 268 new aged care beds being built across the Adelaide metropolitan area.
Minister, let's talk about the appropriateness of care. Let's talk about dementia and the rise in aged care residents with complex needs. How are they going to be directly supported through this latest funding package?
RAE: Rory, it's a really important issue. And when we speak about delayed discharge and longer stay older patients in hospitals, dementia and other cognitive decline related conditions are key drivers of that issue. And I think we all know as human beings that we want to see older people, people that we love, our parents and grandparents being treated with dignity in that part of their lives. Dementia care has been a critical assessment component of these particular projects. And so when the Department are looking through the expressions of interest, they are looking for projects, ideally, that provide a heightened level of care for people with dementia or dementia-related conditions.
We also invested in the last Federal Budget significant funds in both our Specialist Dementia Care Program, which is a set of specialist dementia care facilities across the country that are rehabilitative, if you like. They're about getting people out of that hospital system or out of other non-appropriate care environments, providing them with the supports so that they can have rehabilitative behavioural therapies and then enter into residential aged care. So that's really important.
The other thing that we've been investing in really significantly is our transition program so that we can get people who have dementia and other related conditions but often comorbidity type conditions. Sometimes dementia and Alzheimer's can come alongside mental health issues and there can be a bit of a sort of a chicken and egg as to which one came first. But what we do know is that can create really serious challenges for older people who are suffering from those conditions and they become really complex care questions. And so our program that we run to try and get people again out of the hospital system is aimed at working with those people, with their families and with clinicians to provide the very best care and get them out of that cycle of hospital admissions.
HOST: Minister, when it comes to the efforts to boost the supply of aged care beds, isn't the Commonwealth facing a situation here where it is having to try and run hard to essentially stand still in this space? Or even go backwards.
RAE: It's a particular interpretation, Rory, but the short answer is yes, right now. The reality that we face is that we need about 10,000 new units of residential aged care nationally every single year. Last year we got about 800. So, the cruel, harsh reality of this is that we are playing catch-up, and it's an unfortunate time to be playing catch-up because we've got the baby boomer population coming like a tsunami through the system. We'll have 90,000 Australians have an 80th birthday this year. Now, 15 years ago, Mark Butler had my job under the Gillard and Rudd governments, and that number was 15,000 Australians. So, in 15 years it's increased by 600 per cent. This is the scale of the challenge that we face.
And I don't want to be too pointy or too partisan about this, Rory, but this is not a surprise. We have been able to see this generational challenge coming down the pipeline. And very unfortunately…
HOST: You've just kind of thrown- you’ve just thrown one of your predecessors there, Mark Butler, arguably under the bus as well, Minister.
RAE: No, not at all. Mark Butler put in place a generational plan for investment and reform of the aged care system, which in his first budget after being elected, Tony Abbott scrapped. And so unfortunately, the previous government cut aged care. They were entirely negligent about reforming the system to meet the needs of older people. And where that got them to, Rory, was a Royal Commission that issued a report with a single mononymous title: neglect.
So this is a generational reform program, it has to happen at every touch point of the system. It has to happen in residential aged care. It has to happen in home care. It has to be about the quality and the standards of care across our community. It has to focus relentlessly on getting better outcomes for older people
HOST: And taking on board what you have said regarding the numbers, you've spoken about the numbers at various points through this interview, Minister. Is more significant intervention required?
RAE: Well, we just released a few months ago a report that was done independently by a very esteemed public servant and academic, Nigel Ray, and Professor Nicole Sutton, about what the funding arrangements could look like in the residential aged care space, particularly the capital considerations that are required. We took the most urgent parts of that report and funded them immediately through the last budget, and we're giving consideration to some additional ones.
But I think to go to your point, Rory, to speak plainly about it, this is a huge challenge. This is an everyday challenge. and it's not solved, and it won't be solved in the short term either. I don't want to speak in a mealy-mouthed manner about this. This is a generational reform. If we truly want to deliver the quality, of services that older people in our community deserve. We're going to have to continue to invest, continue to reform the sector, continue to support the amazing aged care workers that deliver these services day in, day out.
HOST: Minister Sam Rae, thank you.
RAE: Thanks, Rory.