3AW Melbourne Talking Health with Dr Sally Cockburn
E&OE
COCKBURN:
Joining us is Senator Mitch Fifield, who is the Assistant Minister for Social Services. And of course Minister, aged care is in your bailiwick?
FIFIELD:
That’s right Sally. Good to be with you.
COCKBURN:
You too, thank you very much for joining us. And it’s a great conference – it’s a big vibe up here. It’s really good. Can I just ask you, from my perspective as a doctor, aged care has moved from Health to Social Services, which I quite like because it takes the focus off it being an illness to being more of a lifestyle. Is that the sort of vibe that you’re trying to get across?
FIFIELD:
Absolutely Sally. One of the first things that we did when we came into government was that we took aged care responsibility from the Department of Health and gave it to the old Family and Community Services Department, now known as Social Services. So we’ve got responsibility for disability, carers and aged care in the one portfolio. And that really is partly an attempt to get away from this deficit view of ageing and deficit view of disability. Yes, there are certain facts in our lives and there are certain facts that come about as we get older. But we want to see the potential in people, and particularly to embrace the whole concept of re-ablement. That you might have a problem come your way, but that doesn’t mean that how that problem first affects you is the way it needs to affect you ongoing.
COCKBURN:
I suppose we can’t put the blinkers on and think everything is rosy for everybody because obviously there is high care needs – there are people with dementia and they require care. I always worry about government departments becoming siloed. What’s being done to try and keep the conversation going between Health – so they haven’t just got rid of that.
FIFIELD:
That’s right. It’s important that that doesn’t happen. Which is why the group that advises me on dementia, for example, reports to both myself and the Health Minister, because we want to make sure that we don’t have that silo effect. One of the other benefits of bringing ageing into the social services portfolio is that we’ve actually also now got responsibility for carers altogether. Previously it was split between FaHCSIA and Health. We’ve now got that responsibility all in one department and under the one minister.
COCKBURN:
One of the problems, and I think it’s great they’ve come into the one place, because aged care facilities are currently hosting a lot of young people. And of course that split between Health and FaHCSIA, but I gather there’ll most likely be a lot more focus on that.
FIFIELD:
That’s right. There are hundreds if not thousands of young Australians who have a disability who find themselves in aged care accommodation. Sometimes that’s by choice, because they get good support. But often it’s because there is no alternative for them. And not that young people with disability have anything against older Australians, but it’s just natural that if you’re a younger person, you want to be around people of the same age and same interests as yourself. The National Disability Insurance Scheme will be one of the mechanisms which will make it a bit easier to make sure that we can find the right accommodation for younger people with disability.
COCKBURN:
There has been some funding cuts I think in that area and especially in young people in nursing home advocacy, and I’m just wondering will that all be reassessed?
FIFIELD:
I’m not aware specifically of cuts in advocacy for young people in nursing homes. We have had some changes in the peak body funding for disability organisations. What we’ve essentially done is we’ve made that contestable for the first time. So there are some organisations that previously didn’t get funding who now do, and obviously some who did receive funding who won’t in the future.
COCKBURN:
What I love is that the whole system has moved into the 21st century with myagedcare.gov.au. I remember I was there when one of your predecessors launched this, and it’s a fabulous thing. It’s just that a lot of older people find difficulty in using the internet. I actually find difficulty in navigating this website. It’s a great step forward. Are there any moves to make it a bit simpler?
FIFIELD:
It’s a start. We’re trying to provide more information through the My Aged Care gateway. But there is good news Sally, people can also call 1800 200 422 and talk to a real life human being.
COCKBURN:
We love that.
FIFIELD:
We do know and understand that the internet is not something that everyone finds straightforward. So it’s very important that people still have the option of talking to someone, and that number is there so that people can talk to a person and can then navigate the way forward.
COCKBURN:
And I’ll be promoting that number during this programme because you’re right. Although my aunty peg who’s 92 is pretty savvy with the internet – so we shouldn’t just assume!
FIFIELD:
That’s right.
COCKBURN:
So tell me, where do you want to take your portfolio?
FIFIELD:
I would ultimately love to have it more in the direction of the individual being at the centre and in charge. And what I mean by that is that we adopt in aged care the sort of approach that we have in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, where an individual has their needs assessed, they then get an entitlement and they can direct that to the service provider of their choice. At the moment, the subsidies for people in aged care go to the provider, and the providers do on the whole a great job. But I would much prefer to see a situation where the taxpayer dollars that an individual receives, along with the dollars that they themselves contribute, that they have the option of choosing the provider of their choice and directing that funding accordingly. And we’re making some small steps in that direction through home care, where from the middle of this year, all new home care packages will be under what we call consumer directed care. I think that’s the way of the future.
COCKBURN:
Excellent. The thing is of course, when people think of care – 20 years ago people would have thought aged care equals nursing home. Now of course it’s this whole spectrum of support through to care through to facilities and accommodation. And I suppose you’ve got a big portfolio from that perspective.
FIFIELD:
Absolutely. There’s probably 190,000 plus people in residential aged care, which we used to call nursing homes. But there’s over 60,000 people who are in home care, who get a package of support where they live. Increasingly, that’s the direction that people are wanting to head. They’re wanting to stay home for as long as they can, so I think over time there’ll be a rebalancing between what we know as traditional residential care and home care support.
COCKBURN:
Indeed. Well for the rest of the show where going to springboard from what you’ve said. I have with me some senior members of LASA, and also we’re going to be talking about that spectrum of care that’s available. Thank you very much for your time, really appreciate it. Got a message for LASA?
FIFIELD:
I love them all, and I’m sure they’ll have a great time with you Sally.
ENDS