aged care assessment teams

Government signals privatisation of aged care assessments

September 7, 2021 by Danielle Mahoney Leave a Comment

Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT) have been under the threat of privatisation for years to no avail. Despite the many failed attempts, the government is again pushing forward towards a tendering process as early as next month.

The many failed attempts to privatise

In December, 2019, the federal government, which funds ACAT, tried to push through a tender to privatise. This was met with strong opposition from unions, workers, aged care advocates, medical peak bodies and even the NSW Minister for Health, who said: “it seems pre-emptive and unreasonable to be effectively privatising health aged-care services while the royal commission into aged care is still under way… not a lot of logic there”.

The government’s decision to withdraw the tender was announced on 28 February via a Council of Australian Governments Health Council (CHC) communique released following a meeting of state and territory health ministers, stating:

‘The Commonwealth has agreed to work with the States and Territories to have a consistent, uniform, efficient and integrated aged care assessment process that meets the needs of senior Australians and their families.

‘The Commonwealth has confirmed that it is not proceeding with the current tender process.’

The current situation

In May, this year, the Morrison Government again signaled its intention to privatise aged care assessment teams (ACAT) in its response to the aged care royal commission recommendations.

The decision to put the recruitment of the workforce out to tender is a clear misinterpretation of the commissioners’ advice to ‘replace the Aged Care Assessment Program and the Regional Assessment Services with one assessment process’.

Last week, during Senate estimates, Aged Care Services Minister, Richard Colbeck, reiterated the government’s plans to put the tender to market.

Under the proposed arrangements, organisations will be contracted to provide these government funded services. State public health providers will have an opportunity to win these contracts, however this approach will likely result in a significant (if not total) privatisation.

“These services are far too valuable and integrated with the health and care needs of older Australians to leave it to a ‘procurement approach’,” NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association General Secretary Brett Holmes said.

“Quality services need to be maintained, not reduced through the introduction of a profit motive”.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association is campaigning against any privatisation of ACAT. Assessment services are expertly delivered by a skilled NSW public health workforce of registered nurses, social workers and others. Privatisation would jeopardise the jobs of hundreds of skilled practitioners.

ACAT nursing jobs at risk

February 7, 2020 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

Privatisation threatens the jobs of highly skilled and experienced nurses who ensure appropriate care is provided based on individual needs.

NSWNMA Acting General Secretary Judith Kiejda has warned that ACAT is being privatised with “a complete lack of transparency” and no assurances on staffing and skill mix to guarantee quality care and proper use of government funding.

“Privatisation and deregulation in the aged care sector has led to chronic understaffing,” Judith pointed out.

“The Royal Commission has described the aged care sector as a ‘shocking tale of neglect’.

“The federal government’s move to privatise ACAT services will further degrade a system in dire need of more support.”

Judith noted that ACAT teams work in conjunction with treating clinicians and are integral to a client’s journey.

“Replacing key members of these teams with private contractors will sever these relationships.”

She added that private com-panies do not have access to electronic medical records nor do they have the knowledge, skills and well-established relationships to provide comprehensive and accurate assessments.

“ACAT assessors are currently employed by NSW Health and many are rostered to attend hospital referrals, which ensures assessments are prioritised based on the flow of beds.

“Not having ACAT teams on site may contribute to longer waiting times in our already-overstretched public hospitals and further delays on assessments.

“Waiting for a private company to attend facilities will surely cause delays.”

Judith said privatisation could put for-profit nursing home operators (or subsidiaries) in charge of the assessments of elderly patients, leading to a conflict of interest and lack of accountability.

“An RN working in our public health system makes no financial gain and only has the interest of their patients and clients at heart.

“Private providers exist to make a profit and may pursue ‘ideal’ clients that are most likely to deliver a higher profit for aged care facilities.”

Judith warned that introducing profit-driven competition into aged care assessment would ensure a race to the bottom as contractors tried to spend the least in order to maximise their taxpayer-funded profit. n

‘A race to the bottom’

The Doctors Reform Society (DRS) says it is “deeply concerned” by the federal government’s announcement that it is starting the ACAT privatisation process.

“A privatised ACAT will be a race to the bottom”, said DRS president Dr Tim Woodruff.

“Poorly trained assessors will inadequately assess complex patient needs as they gouge government fees for their private owners and force the dedicated assessors out of the system because they will not be profitable.

“More taxes wasted and gifted to private businesses.

“Does this really sound like away to improve the lives of our ageing population?”

He said the government was moving ahead with privatisation despite its own Royal Commission into Aged Care preparing to deliver a full report with funding recommendations by November 2020.

“Nothing in its interim report suggests that a way forward is to privatise anything. Indeed, the report has clear concerns about ‘the market’.”

ACAT privatisation digs a deeper hole for aged care

January 31, 2020 by Rayan Calimlim 4 Comments

Aged Care Nurse Jocelyn Hoffman writes about what the proposed privatisation of Aged Care Assessment Teams will mean for the sector.

The federal government made a quiet announcement last December that it will privatise the Aged Care Assessment Teams from April 2021.

The ACATs are teams of registered nurses, geriatricians and allied health professionals who work at public hospitals to assess the level of care required by our elderly Australians. This is an independent organisation that provides an invaluable service to our older community. They assess their complex care needs and assist them and their carers to access appropriate levels of support, either at home or in a residential aged care home.

How can the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and our Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck allow the privatisation to go ahead while the Aged Care Royal Commission is yet to submit its recommendations in November this year?

Privatisation and deregulation in the Aged Care sector has led to chronic understaffing. The Royal Commission has exposed the Aged Care sector as a “shocking tale of neglect!”

Our elderly have paid an expensive price in this harrowing debacle.

I fear that the privatisation of the Aged Care Assessment Teams will lead down the same pathway.

Will lucrative companies that run nursing homes be in charge of the assessments of patients? Will the patients be sent to the companies’ own residential aged care facilities or in their homes? If at home, will the care be provided by their own “agencies”? Will the assessors be trained professionals or will the staffing be downgraded? A lack of assessors will lead to long waiting times in hospitals. Will there be transparency and financial accountability?

The Tax Justice Network has exposed (the tax avoidance of) the six largest for-profit companies in Australia, namely Bupa, Opal, Regis, Estia, Japara and Allity, who received over $2.17 billion annually in government subsidies for aged care services and we are yet to see the information on funding and staffing ratios in the aged care sector.

Interestingly, One Nation and the federal government blocked the Aged Care Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 last December. This bill, moved by the Centre Alliance Senator Stirling Griff, would have required residential aged care providers to give annual financial statements – the actual costs spent on food, staffing and other costs spent on delivering care – to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, who would then make them public.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety revealed that in 2018, 16,000 older Australians died waiting for a Home Care Package and 13,000 people were placed into aged care facilities while waiting for a package they never received.

We have been told incessantly by this government that privatisation and the free market system will thrive on an assumption of consumer choice. Once the ACAT has been privatised, there will be no such thing as “consumer choice”. Sadly, decisions about their care will not be determined by them-selves or by their loved ones, but by profit-seeking corporations.

What kind of society have we become?