Director |Certified Financial Planner | Aged Care Professional
Recently, the Royal Commission into Aged Care has conducted an 8-day hearing in Sydney which focused mainly on residential aged care and people with dementia.
Several people were heard by the Royal Commission detailing the experiences they had and their thoughts about the system as a whole.
The utmost concern of the commission is to improve the current process so that the aged population across Australia will be given the necessary benefits due to them.
There were also highly interesting points that were identified whilst the Royal Commission into Aged Care was ongoing:
- Aged Care and Health Care must be inseparable
There should be a tighter provision of residential aged care facilities that also prioritises health care. Most of these residents are already frail and are suffering from chronic illnesses which means that they should be supported and given the health care that they are supposed to be getting from within their aged care homes.
- The involuntary detention of residents in nursing homes
In the hearing, there were situations where residents felt like they had no alternatives and unable to leave the facility. They couldn’t avoid feeling trapped. With families who are unable and unwilling to care for these residents and they too are unable to care for themselves, there isn’t much of a choice but to rely on a carer’s support. Therefore, there should be an improvement on the current processes for residents who opt to receive benefits through aged care packages which they can choose to avail while in the comfort of their own homes.
- Criticism on the Aged Care Regulations
Some experts who share sentiments on the Aged Care Regulations have expressed their take on this matter. An example of which, is that there has been an overuse of chemical restraint drugs for residents, but these regulations are not helping at all to minimise these occurrences. There’s been no clear understanding of what really is a chemical restraint. There should be a better functional approach on the implementation of the regulations in order to eliminate abuse towards the aged residents.
If you want to know more information, please visit our website at www.verante.com.au
