Vulnerable Older Australians in Aged Care Deserve Better
Fifty years from now, when I am 87, I look forward to telling my grandkids or, frankly, anyone who will listen to an old, out-of-touch ex-politician , the policy lessons and mistakes of this pandemic.
I picture myself and Jess in an accessible, affordable, high-tech , high-rise aged-care home overlooking the Swan River. It is well staffed, well-funded and with access to the best medical support.
This should not just be a vision for 50 years time.
We owe high-quality aged care to senior Australians today.
Instead, we have had a Government lounging in the recliner for almost a decade and the policy challenges are the worst they have ever been.
West Australians are rightly fearful the spread of COVID will demonstrate just how diabolical the situation in aged care is under the Morrison Government.
Across our State we are ready for COVID. Our schools are ready. Our workplaces are ready. Our communities are ready. We are counting down the days to see the smiles of family members again and welcome new visitors to our beautiful part of Australia.
There is one area that isn’t ready.
That’s because our aged-care system was broken before the pandemic.
A few months before we had even heard of COVID-19 , Wuhan or rapid antigen tests, the interim report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care was delivered.
This report titled Neglect showed a system that is hurting our most vulnerable. Thirty-nine per cent of residents experiencing elder abuse. Undernourished, left alone for hours with nothing but a television for company.
We heard of Australians living in pain and discomfort until they die while waiting for an aged-care package. In 2020 some 11,000 people died waiting for an aged-care package.
As the pandemic hit, the royal commission shared stories of people who were being treated for COVID, died of COVID and their family only found out when it was too late.
In some cases it was unclear if the resident even knew what they were being treated for before they passed.
Already this year 742 Australians have died of COVID in aged care. None of these deaths have been in Western Australia.
Sadly, that is likely to change.
The Morrison Government tells us “The performance in managing COVID-19 has improved” . They promise that we won’t see the deaths and chaos that has ripped through aged care on the east coast. They assure us they have, finally, learnt the lessons and fixed their vaccination program.
I will believe it when I see it. Because all I see is a sector jumping from one crisis to another.
Six months ago the Committee for Economic Development of Australia warned that there was a shortage of 110,000 workers. Now we have such a workforce crisis that the Australian Defence Force is doing shifts in aged-care homes across Perth and Peel.
Understaffing must be fixed. Minimum staffing levels and wages that attract and retain skilled staff is part of the solution.
And as much as I am grateful for these essential workers, thank you is not enough. We need to give them free TAFE and a Government which will listen to them and rebuild the sector stronger after COVID.
And for the immediate challenge, there is no longer any excuse for a lack of personal protective equipment or supplies for aged care. The Prime Minister and his ministers have had two years to prepare for COVID in aged care here in the west.
The hard work of West Australians has avoided so much of the pain during this pandemic. Sadly, the Morrison Government hasn’t done the hard policy work in aged care. By the time we get to the May election we may have seen the aged-care disaster at full volume. That’s when it will be time to elect a government that will take the warnings of the royal commission seriously.
Take the aged-care workforce seriously.
And deliver the care and respect our oldest and most vulnerable Australians deserve.
Patrick Gorman is Federal Labor MP for Perth; shadow assistant minister for WA
This opinion piece was first published by The West Australian on Thursday, 24 February 2022.