​

The key to a healthy and happy retirement is often good access to quality aged care services, which is why we’re concerned to hear that the health organisation Gidgee Healing will be pulling out of the management of several aged care services in the Gulf of Carpentaria due to underfunding and staff shortages.

What alarm bells does this raise for other remote regions in Australia, and what does this mean for our ageing community?

Are regional seniors being left behind? Credit: Shutterstock

Since January 2021, Gidgee Healing has been managing the 15-bed Kukatja Place aged care centre in Normanton, the 10-bed Ngooderi House in Doomadgee, and the Kuba Natha Hostel on Mornington Island, a 15-bed facility.

Now, Gidgee Healing aims to cease managing the centres by June 30 and will be the second health service in recent years to pull out due to inadequate financial support from the government.

In a statement to ABC North West, a spokesperson for Gidgee Healing said: ‘The decision not to renew the current management agreement … has been necessary due to … chronic shortages of affordable workforce and inadequate staff infrastructure.’

The withdrawal of several key aged care services from communities in the Gulf of Carpentaria by Gidgee Healing has highlighted the crisis facing local health services.

Underfunding and staff shortages have made it impossible for Gidgee Healing to sustain its management of the three facilities. The move has caused deep concern among local leaders, who fear that the lack of funding will deter other health providers from moving in to fill the gap left by Gidgee Healing.

'We cannot turn our backs on our elderly residents who rely on this care,' said Carpentaria Shire Council Mayor Jack Bawden.

Historical underfunding of basic services is driving the health crisis in remote communities, Bawden added, noting the previous not-for-profit North West Remote Health (NWRH) which also pulled out of managing the facilities.

It is estimated that there are currently 1.4 million people aged 65 and over living in remote, rural and regional regions of our nation. Analysis from chartered accountancy firm Stewart Brown found 166 regional homes across the country are at risk of closure.

Senior partner Grant Corderoy from Stewart Brown said, 'The regional homes, about 78 per cent, are actually running an operating loss, and 54 per cent in total are running at a cash loss. If there’s no change in the funding arrangements, there will be an exponential increase. And we would expect, yes, seven could well go to 15 or 20 within the next two years.'

In the small town of Harden on the southwest slopes of New South Wales, Wayne Prosser remembers the day the closure of his father’s nursing home was announced.

‘It was horrendous. They called a meeting…and said we’re closing within six weeks.’

Prosser, a lifetime farmer like his father, Rusty, says the distress around the room at the St Lawrence Residential Aged Care nursing home quickly spilled into the community.

‘Staff were crying … My dad’s eyes were boggling. He just said … “What now?”’

The decision by the not-for-profit Southern Cross Care to close the home blindsided the town and the local council. ‘The way they dealt with it … It was just inhumane,’ Prosser said.

Too often, aged care homes in Australia's rural and remote regions cannot cope with demand due to inadequate funding, staff shortages, limited healthcare options and a severe lack of after-hours services when assistance is needed the most.

The Carpentaria Shire Council is currently urging both federal and state governments to invest further in aged care services to counter the high turnover of providers, which is placing stress on other healthcare services in the area.

‘It is really concerning. Medical resources are already stretched. It's really becoming an impossible scenario,’ said Bawden.

Key Takeaways

• Health organisation Gidgee Healing has announced it will withdraw management of several aged care services in the Gulf of Carpentaria due to underfunding and staff shortages.
• Local leaders and the Carpentaria Shire Council mayor express concerns that the lack of funding will deter other health providers from stepping in to fill the gap left by Gidgee Healing, leading to a decline in the quality of care for elderly residents.
• Gidgee Healing and the Carpentaria Shire Council mayor call on the government to invest in aged care and provide better salaries and housing to attract staff to remote areas.
• Despite increased funding by 50 per cent since 2019, greater investment is needed for these aged care services to provide the necessary care for elderly residents.
• More than half of Australia's country nursing homes are losing money, even with the federal government's viability payments meant to help with the higher costs of providing services in rural and remote areas.

‘Somewhere along the line, the government, whether it's state or federal or both, has to loosen their purse strings and spend the money that's required to give these people the care they deserve.’

He continued, saying that the funding model needed to focus on attracting staff to remote areas with better salaries and housing rather than expecting providers to cope with inadequate financial resources.

'Unless we can offer proper housing, there's going to be a lot of fly-in, fly-out staff and the problem with that is they become absolutely slammed with work and are exhausted during the time they are in the communities,' he said.

‘The salaries on offer are easily matched by positions in the cities, and we have a housing crisis in this region.’

For seniors in rural areas, it’s a worrying trend - the closure of residential care homes has multiple knock-on effects, from losing amenities and access to care to the displacement of residents.

The closure of care homes in small towns has ripple effects throughout the community.

The forced loss of community is the precise situation Pat Powell of Strahan found herself in. 'I don't really want to leave, but I've got no options,' she said. 'I'll miss it very, very much.' said Pat. You can read more about her story here.

And for some homes that remain open, there are concerns and reports of inadequate care and abysmal food. In November, we reported that two-thirds of aged care operators said they spent $14 per resident daily on average, while a third — about 833 operators — admitted to spending less than $10. Two per cent spent a measly $6 daily. You can read more about this here.

Are you or your family members affected by this crisis, either directly or indirectly? Do you have suggestions on how Australia’s regional and rural aged care services can be improved? We’d love to hear your stories and suggestions in the comments section below.

 

[SGH]

You know if they ran child care centres out of age care homes I'm sure they would have plenty of workers. The elderly would love to be with the children and assist with their care from 0600 - 1900 or whenever these centres close these days. And the excess of staff required for the Child care would make up for the short supply in the age care.

 

[elaine41]

As a senior who is concerned about what will happen in the future, I do not want to be expected to assist with the care of children for up to 13 hours a day. I love to be around small children but not for the whole day. They can be very tiring & I get tired very quickly these days.
Also, staff who are trained for child care are not trained to care for the elderly & would not have the time if they have a full complement of children to care for.

 

[SGH]

As a senior who is concerned about what will happen in the future, I do not want to be expected to assist with the care of children for up to 13 hours a day. I love to be around small children but not for the whole day. They can be very tiring & I get tired very quickly these days.
Also, staff who are trained for child care are not trained to care for the elderly & would not have the time if they have a full complement of children to care for.

Elaine it was tongue in cheek

 

[kinkakuji]

If you are an older senior citizen and can no longer take care of yourself and need Long-Term Care, but the government says there is no nursing home care available for you, what do you do? You may opt for Medicare Part G. The plan gives anyone 75 or older a gun (Part G) and one bullet. You may then shoot one worthless politician. This means you will be sent to prison for the rest of your life where you will receive three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating and air conditioning, cable TV, a library, and all the health care you need. Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a hearing aid, new hip, knees, kidney, lungs, sex change, or heart? They are all covered! As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you at least as often as they do now! And, who will be paying for all this? The same government that just told you they can't afford for you to go into a nursing home. And you will get rid of a useless politician while you are at it. And now, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any more income taxes! Is this a great country or what? Now that you have solved your senior Long-Term Care problem, enjoy the rest of your week.

 

[sunil]

If you are an older senior citizen and can no longer take care of yourself and need Long-Term Care, but the government says there is no nursing home care available for you, what do you do? You may opt for Medicare Part G. The plan gives anyone 75 or older a gun (Part G) and one bullet. You may then shoot one worthless politician. This means you will be sent to prison for the rest of your life where you will receive three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating and air conditioning, cable TV, a library, and all the health care you need. Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a hearing aid, new hip, knees, kidney, lungs, sex change, or heart? They are all covered! As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you at least as often as they do now! And, who will be paying for all this? The same government that just told you they can't afford for you to go into a nursing home. And you will get rid of a useless politician while you are at it. And now, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any more income taxes! Is this a great country or what? Now that you have solved your senior Long-Term Care problem, enjoy the rest of your week.

We can't complain because we created this society, a selfish, self centred and uncaring. Since we wanted tax cuts, bigger homes, negative gearing, no investment in new technology, etc. We created a country that won't be able to sustain its self.

As Paul Keating said, "We are the arse end of the world". He meant we want to be part of the first world but are only agricultural and mining based economy like the 3rd world. Others import iron ore for say $100 / tonnes and we import a car weighing 1 ton for $20,000. We added no value but others did. Car is just an example, extend that to other things.

Add that to an aging population and low birth rate. Mean small tax base, etc. We can argue from different perspectives.

 

[GranniCaz]

What DOES this mean for our Elders currently in care; does this not cause angst and fear, exacerbate the fears and uncertainty they experience daily and cause unnecessary stress, angst and detriment to their mental health?

What DOES this mean for the broader community entering their twilight years; what WILL the status of their “CARE” look like if the careLESSness reflected today does not represent the taxes which they presumed to have funded their care; the “regulators” continue to fail abjectly and funding is also negligible and negligent?

Who WILL address and consequently remedy this embarrassing negligence ??

 

[Cyberchook]

You know if they ran child care centres out of age care homes I'm sure they would have plenty of workers. The elderly would love to be with the children and assist with their care from 0600 - 1900 or whenever these centres close these days. And the excess of staff required for the Child care would make up for the short supply in the age care.

Kept well under controlled times, access and according to each older person's wishes, definitely not compulsory. I think an hour or two max for one weekday would be enough for most aged with kindy-aged children around in a group. I doubt it would work if expected as a daily consideration.

 

[Gsr]

The aged care home in Buladelah, a rural NSW town closed in the last two years despite the local community trying to keep it open. Anglicare had been running it when my uncle was a resident a few years ago. It was a lovely building with wide verandah, well maintained, with views to the top of the buladelah mountain.

If you are an older senior citizen and can no longer take care of yourself and need Long-Term Care, but the government says there is no nursing home care available for you, what do you do? You may opt for Medicare Part G. The plan gives anyone 75 or older a gun (Part G) and one bullet. You may then shoot one worthless politician. This means you will be sent to prison for the rest of your life where you will receive three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating and air conditioning, cable TV, a library, and all the health care you need. Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a hearing aid, new hip, knees, kidney, lungs, sex change, or heart? They are all covered! As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you at least as often as they do now! And, who will be paying for all this? The same government that just told you they can't afford for you to go into a nursing home. And you will get rid of a useless politician while you are at it. And now, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any more income taxes! Is this a great country or what? Now that you have solved your senior Long-Term Care problem, enjoy the rest of your week.

What a great idea, if everyone heeded this advice we would soon rid our country of all the useless politicians who are definitely in the 90+% range in our country. Win win for everybody.

 

[Gsr]

Sorry, I checked on google, it appears another aged care group may have reopened the buladelah nursing home, which is good news for the town. I wonder how much of the financial drain on facilities is because they mostly use agency staff to work in said facilities. This costs them much more money than employing their own staff, but unless the pay increases they can’t keep staff. I know staff in some facilities who used to work for them, but resigned and went to the agencies. They still work in the same facility as agency nurses but earn a lot more. Surely it would make more sense to pay the staff higher wages and not have to pay the agencies commission on top of the wages cost of using agency staff. Having the same staff looking after clients long term is so much better than having different staff coming and going all the time. Staff get to know the clients and their families, they know the care needs of clients which makes for better care outcomes for them, it certainly makes for a more family, caring, contented, happy atmosphere within the facility.

 

[Col@45]

​

The key to a healthy and happy retirement is often good access to quality aged care services, which is why we’re concerned to hear that the health organisation Gidgee Healing will be pulling out of the management of several aged care services in the Gulf of Carpentaria due to underfunding and staff shortages.

What alarm bells does this raise for other remote regions in Australia, and what does this mean for our ageing community?

View attachment 17689

Are regional seniors being left behind? Credit: Shutterstock

Since January 2021, Gidgee Healing has been managing the 15-bed Kukatja Place aged care centre in Normanton, the 10-bed Ngooderi House in Doomadgee, and the Kuba Natha Hostel on Mornington Island, a 15-bed facility.

Now, Gidgee Healing aims to cease managing the centres by June 30 and will be the second health service in recent years to pull out due to inadequate financial support from the government.

In a statement to ABC North West, a spokesperson for Gidgee Healing said: ‘The decision not to renew the current management agreement … has been necessary due to … chronic shortages of affordable workforce and inadequate staff infrastructure.’

The withdrawal of several key aged care services from communities in the Gulf of Carpentaria by Gidgee Healing has highlighted the crisis facing local health services.

Underfunding and staff shortages have made it impossible for Gidgee Healing to sustain its management of the three facilities. The move has caused deep concern among local leaders, who fear that the lack of funding will deter other health providers from moving in to fill the gap left by Gidgee Healing.

'We cannot turn our backs on our elderly residents who rely on this care,' said Carpentaria Shire Council Mayor Jack Bawden.

Historical underfunding of basic services is driving the health crisis in remote communities, Bawden added, noting the previous not-for-profit North West Remote Health (NWRH) which also pulled out of managing the facilities.

It is estimated that there are currently 1.4 million people aged 65 and over living in remote, rural and regional regions of our nation. Analysis from chartered accountancy firm Stewart Brown found 166 regional homes across the country are at risk of closure.

Senior partner Grant Corderoy from Stewart Brown said, 'The regional homes, about 78 per cent, are actually running an operating loss, and 54 per cent in total are running at a cash loss. If there’s no change in the funding arrangements, there will be an exponential increase. And we would expect, yes, seven could well go to 15 or 20 within the next two years.'

In the small town of Harden on the southwest slopes of New South Wales, Wayne Prosser remembers the day the closure of his father’s nursing home was announced.

‘It was horrendous. They called a meeting…and said we’re closing within six weeks.’

Prosser, a lifetime farmer like his father, Rusty, says the distress around the room at the St Lawrence Residential Aged Care nursing home quickly spilled into the community.

‘Staff were crying … My dad’s eyes were boggling. He just said … “What now?”’

The decision by the not-for-profit Southern Cross Care to close the home blindsided the town and the local council. ‘The way they dealt with it … It was just inhumane,’ Prosser said.

Too often, aged care homes in Australia's rural and remote regions cannot cope with demand due to inadequate funding, staff shortages, limited healthcare options and a severe lack of after-hours services when assistance is needed the most.

The Carpentaria Shire Council is currently urging both federal and state governments to invest further in aged care services to counter the high turnover of providers, which is placing stress on other healthcare services in the area.

‘It is really concerning. Medical resources are already stretched. It's really becoming an impossible scenario,’ said Bawden.

Key Takeaways

• Health organisation Gidgee Healing has announced it will withdraw management of several aged care services in the Gulf of Carpentaria due to underfunding and staff shortages.
• Local leaders and the Carpentaria Shire Council mayor express concerns that the lack of funding will deter other health providers from stepping in to fill the gap left by Gidgee Healing, leading to a decline in the quality of care for elderly residents.
• Gidgee Healing and the Carpentaria Shire Council mayor call on the government to invest in aged care and provide better salaries and housing to attract staff to remote areas.
• Despite increased funding by 50 per cent since 2019, greater investment is needed for these aged care services to provide the necessary care for elderly residents.
• More than half of Australia's country nursing homes are losing money, even with the federal government's viability payments meant to help with the higher costs of providing services in rural and remote areas.

‘Somewhere along the line, the government, whether it's state or federal or both, has to loosen their purse strings and spend the money that's required to give these people the care they deserve.’

He continued, saying that the funding model needed to focus on attracting staff to remote areas with better salaries and housing rather than expecting providers to cope with inadequate financial resources.

'Unless we can offer proper housing, there's going to be a lot of fly-in, fly-out staff and the problem with that is they become absolutely slammed with work and are exhausted during the time they are in the communities,' he said.

‘The salaries on offer are easily matched by positions in the cities, and we have a housing crisis in this region.’

For seniors in rural areas, it’s a worrying trend - the closure of residential care homes has multiple knock-on effects, from losing amenities and access to care to the displacement of residents.

The closure of care homes in small towns has ripple effects throughout the community.

The forced loss of community is the precise situation Pat Powell of Strahan found herself in. 'I don't really want to leave, but I've got no options,' she said. 'I'll miss it very, very much.' said Pat. You can read more about her story here.

And for some homes that remain open, there are concerns and reports of inadequate care and abysmal food. In November, we reported that two-thirds of aged care operators said they spent $14 per resident daily on average, while a third — about 833 operators — admitted to spending less than $10. Two per cent spent a measly $6 daily. You can read more about this here.

Are you or your family members affected by this crisis, either directly or indirectly? Do you have suggestions on how Australia’s regional and rural aged care services can be improved? We’d love to hear your stories and suggestions in the comments section below.

This is disgusting, we can't turn our backs on the elderly. Instead of giving money to a lot of young people who are probably quite capable of working, look after our elderly folk.