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The Forum > Article Comments > Aged care crisis - Australia's greatest shame > Comments

Aged care crisis - Australia's greatest shame : Comments

By Tristan Ewins, published 17/7/2013

We need a comprehensive National Aged Care Insurance Scheme along similar lines to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

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IJN - I have seen first hand what our aged citizens - who have paid their taxes all their working lives - are made to suffer in their final years. I dare say if you were in the position of not being able to afford quality care for you loved ones or yourself you would feel differently. Read the reports from Lateline from last night and the night before - and get your head around the issue before talking about 'priorities'.

Hasbeen: We have one of the smallest public sectors in the world, and small, very highly targeted social wage. We're WAY SHORT of Canada - let alone most of Europe. We CAN afford to do better. Even ONE PERCENT of GDP would make a massive difference. It is a matter of priorities. And if you watched the Lateline programs you may decide it makes more sense to tax the wealthy a bit more to prevent the horrific suffering that many of our loved one have/will go through. (not to mention the prospect of enduring such suffering ourselves) I've explained how it can be funded too - through reform of superannuation concessions, dividend imputation and/or reform of the Medicare Levy.

Divergence - you're right many people will die before needed high intensity care - but the numbers in care is currently over 200,000. And with the ageing population that's only going to grow. (exponentially) BTW The average stay in a nursing home is about 2 years. But for some it will be significantly more. And for many this will be two years of Hell. Compulsory Aged Care Insurance seems the answer - just like with the NDIS. Though I think paying for it through superannuation money would be regressive compared with more progressive funding mechanisms as I suggest. As Andrew Leigh has been arguing recently inequality is already way out of control in this country....
Posted by Tristan Ewins, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 5:10:36 PM
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Dear Tristan,

I watched the aged care programs on television and
they were horrific. Nobody should have to suffer
under circumstances that were presented. Of course
not all aged care facilities are like that but there
were enough of them and made one wander - where were
the families of these elderly people and why did they
not know what was going on? How often did families
actually visit their relatives and check up on them?
That particular case of that elderly lady with
those bleeding sores - was a case in point.
How could family members not have seen those sores?
She was covered in them and they were bleeding and very
large - and the dead skin was simply falling off. The
stench must have been dreadful. The same goes for
urinary infections and other problems. Stench is a
give-away that something is wrong.

Yes, these facilities are often under-staffed, and
they do often have unqualified and untrained staff having
to deal with situations beyond their capabilities - but
my goodness - if you even suspect that a family member is
being mistreated - do something about it. Accept some
responsibility. Don't just dump your relative into a
nursing home and expect others to do all the caring.
Part of the responsibility as a family is also yours.
Check up on everything, and do something about it. Don't just
assume that "It'll be right." It may well not be.
Posted by Lexi, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 6:11:01 PM
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Lexi; For my grandmother my mother and I were going in several times a week. But you cannot be there all the time.. Things would go missing from her room. (She had a private room which we managed to secure 0 the vast majority don't) She still did not eat enough, though, and lost weight... This was in the best facility we could find. We had to sell her house to secure the care.
Posted by Tristan Ewins, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 6:36:27 PM
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Dear Tristan,

My mother-in-law and my stepfather were both in private
rooms with their own on-suites -
in the reputable - Blue-Cross facilities.
We also had to sell their
homes to get them into these facilities. However we visited
them regularly and I made sure that their Care-Co-Ordinators
immediately took care of anything that was not satisfactory.
From completely changing my mother-in-laws bed linen
(when her bed stank of urine). To seeing that stronger
incontinence pants were provided.
To making sure that doctors visited regularly.
They've both passed away. My mother-in-law was at the tail-end
of Alzheimers and my step-dad had suffered a series of strokes
and had lost his power of speech, and was partially paralysed
down one side. Of-course we couldn't be there for them all
the time - but I made darn sure that we visited at least several
times during the week (after hours if need be)
and on week-ends. Vigilance was important -
and of course as was the social contact with them .
Taking them out for coffee and cake and for a ride - made a
big difference to their lives, as well as making sure that
other family members visited regularly.
Posted by Lexi, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 7:07:09 PM
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Tristan even if it was the only media on earth, I would not watch any of the garbage served up by the rabble that have gained control of their ABC. I am not interested in the tripe these activists produce.

I have had a couple of family through both the public hospital system, & private aged care facilities recently. Let me assure it was the hard & caring work of a nursing home that corrected the disastrous treatment my mother received in one of our larger public hospitals.

It was not cheap, but why should it be? When another group is bitching the sector workers are under paid it will probably only get more expensive. However, have you ever thought of paying you own, & your families way yourself? I think it would be a novel & equitable idea if we all started getting what we had earned

If a nursing home has mistreated a relative of yours badly, bring charges, & see them in court, otherwise keep it to your self. I am not interested in anyone running someone down, if they won't take action.

By the way, telling us we are better off than some disastrous countries does not help much. We are going down the gurgler right now, & if serious competition for our minerals develops in the near term, we will have no chance of maintaining services, let alone increasing them.
Posted by Hasbeen, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 7:18:24 PM
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I was not impressed by this article. Whilst I don't condone the ill treatment of the elderly (or any one else for that matter) I also don't think we should be providing outstanding medical care for them either. I think that is part of the problem, not the solution. With an ageing population, there is a limit to what we can afford to spend.
Unfortunately, good medical care can delay for long periods of time people from dying of the natural consequences of ageing. If they are seeing a doctor every week and receiving top notch medical care, they may well live far beyond their natural life span, and in the process cost the country an absolute fortune. This money is being spent on people who are no longer contributing in a valuable way to society. It is money that could otherwise be spent on things such as education, infrastructure, health care (for other people in society) and all the other myriad of things we expect the government to provide. Every dollar spent on aged care is a dollar that is not spent else where. When people live in their own home, and are left to their own devices they may or may not see their doctor regularly. They may or may not take their medications regularly. In such cases they are far more likely to die naturally without costing the rest of society a fortune.
Also, the assertion that these people should retain their assets whilst riding on the taxpayers back is a disgrace. These assets of course will go in the end to those people who failed to look after their parents in their old age. Meanwhile, me as a taxpayer will be unable to afford to buy my own house or look after my family because all my money is going to people who already own their own homes.
Opportunity cost to the key to the provision of all government services. A dollar spent here is a dollar that can't be spent somewhere else.
Posted by Rhys Jones, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 7:46:25 PM
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