Reform

Tim Lawless says Australia’s ageing population is creating unprecedented demand for retirement living – but delivering enough homes may be the sector’s greatest challenge.

HammondCare’s Marie Alford shares what retirement village operators should be doing now to support residents living with dementia – from wayfinding to wellbeing coordinators to community partnerships.

Full villages, growing waitlists, and residents who can’t access aged care. The sector’s top operators are navigating simultaneous pressure on every front — and the leaders who’ll survive it are the ones willing to have honest conversations now.

More than 315 home care leaders have spoken. Their systems still don’t work. New Enkindle data shows 64% of providers can’t rely on technology to run basic operations under Support at Home.

Wayne Belcher OAM gives aged care boards a choice: commit to growth as part of the solution, or accept that your organisation will slowly fade out. There is no comfortable middle ground anymore.

Wayne Belcher OAM has done the numbers. The sector needs a new nursing home every two days for the next 20 years – and most providers are too busy surviving to address it.

Support at Home must be assessed by how it has impacted seniors and sector, home care general manager argues. Legislative intent is not enough, reform in the halls, homes and operational hoops is where the rubber hits the road.

Government announces priority processing for seniors with MND within Support at Home scheme. Advocates and industry leaders remind government that more work remains to be done for the hundreds of thousands that continue to wait a year for care.

Operations manager Mamata Adhikari has watched a quiet pattern form at the admissions desk: complex-needs residents being turned away. Not because facilities can’t care for them, but because staff are afraid of what comes next.

Within an era of major pushes to overhaul the aged care sector, leaders say the government system’s backend was less than lacklustre, impacting families and providers. As the wait-times for Support at Home packages and time to interact with government processes grows, providers wrestle with systems not fit for purpose.