HIGH demand for a range of aged care services and a lack of government funding
has created uncertainty within the region’s aged care facilities.
While
Alcheringa has 74 approved places, the Tower Hill facility would need to double
in size before it could meet demand, with more than 80 residents currently on
the facility’s waiting list.
Government funding cuts, red tape, an ageing
workforce, increasing overheads and growing waiting lists were some of the
issues to emerge during Tuesday’s Aged Care Forum, which provided an opportunity
for key stakeholders to express their concerns and highlight any issues which
they felt needed addressing.
With the federal election looming, this latest
forum was hosted by The Nationals and attended by Shadow Minister for Ageing
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, Member for
Mallee John Forrest and Nationals candidate for Mallee Andrew Broad.
Ms
Fierravanti-Wells said she had hosted a number of aged-care forums throughout
Australia in a bid to gain a grassroots perspective of the issue as the party
worked towards finalising its policy.
Meeting with local aged care providers,
residents, GPs and carers, the shadow minister said issues which were raised in
Swan Hill were ones experienced across the board and were typical of other
regional/rural towns.
“In the end we know the sector needs reform,” she
said.
