aged care privatisation

ACAT privatisation canned

April 1, 2020 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

The Morrison government retreats from another attempt to sell a piece of the public health system

Strong opposition has forced the federal government to drop its plan to privatise Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATs), which determine the level of care required by elderly Australians.

The federal government backdown came via a joint statement by federal, state and territory health ministers, which said:

“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. Over the longer term the Commonwealth will take advice from states and territories and from the royal commission about what the exact delivery mix should be.”

Earlier, the Morrison government announced that private providers would take over the work of ACATs from April 2021, with tenders to be called this year.

Health and aged care ministers from three states – including Liberal-led NSW – voiced concerns about ACAT privatisation and the royal commission rebuked the Morrison government over the issue.

The NSWNMA said privatisation threatened the jobs of highly skilled and experienced nurses who ensure appropriate care is provided based on individual needs.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said the decision to scrap the tender process was sensible.

“Privatising ACAT would have dramatically disrupted aged care assessments currently delivered by a skilled workforce of nurses, geriatricians, social workers and others,” he said.

“These nurses are employed in the public health system and have no commercial interests; instead, they hold the interests of consumers as a top priority.

“This proposal would have jeopardised the employment of hundreds of skilled clinicians and destroyed decades of expertise.

“Consumers in need of aged care assessment support could potentially have been directed to a for-profit provider, who may not have been independent of the care provider.

“Fortunately, the NSW Health Minister recognised the privatisation plan was illogical and voiced his concerns publicly.

“Not only would the proposal have put additional pressure on our already overstretched public hospitals, it also pre-empted any outcomes of the royal commission into aged care, which is still underway.”

Senate twice condemns Scott Morrison’s Aged Care privatisation plan

February 21, 2020 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

The Senate has agreed to motions condemning the Morrison Government for its plan to privatise aged care assessments two days in a row.

The Liberals’ sneaky plan to privatise aged care assessments was released just days before Christmas and is deeply concerning.

Scott Morrison has no plan to fix the crisis in Australia’s aged care system, but he does have a plan to privatise aged care assessments. This makes no sense.

The Senate motions follow the extraordinary intervention of the Aged Care Royal Commissioners in January who publicly corrected the Minister for Aged Care’s assertion that they supported his plan to privatise aged care assessments.

The Minister for Aged Care, Senator Richard Colbeck, falsely claimed that the privatisation plan was supported by the Royal Commissioners.

There is already an experienced, well-qualified and highly-trained workforce undertaking aged care assessments across the country.

The Morrison Government should come clean on why it would want to privatise these assessments and outsource this work.

It makes no sense to make this decision before the final report of the Aged Care Royal Commission is released in November.

When they should be focused on fixing the crisis in Australia’s aged care system, the Government’s obsession is outsourcing and privatisation.

This is just more aged care mismanagement from the Liberal Government.

It was recently revealed almost 30,000 older Australians sadly passed away in just two years while waiting for home care.

The Liberals have been asleep at the wheel for six years. There have been four different Ministers in that time and billions of dollars ripped out while Australia’s aged care system has lurched from one crisis to another.

Scott Morrison and the Government must do better to ensure older Australians get the quality aged care services they deserve now.

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’.”

Hazzard disowns ACAT privatisation

February 7, 2020 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

The NSW Liberal Party’s Health Minister joined State Labor ministers in criticising the ACAT privatisation. The Aged Care Royal Commissioner was not happy, either.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has twice criticised the federal government for its determination to privatise Aged Care Assessment Teams.

“NSW has major concerns,” Mr Hazzard said in December. “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.”

Mr Hazzard returned to the issue in January, saying it made no sense to involve a private service.

“My understanding is that there is not one state or territory leader who is in agreement with any involvement of the private sector in making the complex and delicate decisions around our aged citizens’ assessments for support packages in their home,” he said.

Mr Hazzard said the NSW Government was “not happy” there was no consultation with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) before the decision was made.

“There has not been any discussion whatsoever between state, territory and federal ministers at COAG’s health ministers meeting, which is where a major reform like this needs to be discussed,” he said.

Mr Hazzard’s federal Liberal colleague, Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck, hit back, claiming the royal commission supported the privatisation move.

This earned a rebuke from the chair of the royal commission, Gaetano Pagone, QC.

Royal Commissioner rubbishes federal government’s claim

Commissioner Pagone said the commission’s interim report “did not endorse the government’s stated position” on privatising ACATs.

“Public concern has been expressed about statements made by the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians that we had decided to support the privatisation of the Aged Care Assessment Teams in our interim report,” he noted.

In an interim report last year, the Royal Commission voiced concern about the aged care system’s increasing reliance on “market forces”.

“It is a myth that aged care is an effective consumer-driven market,” the interim report said.

Victorian Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, Luke Donnellan, said his government was concerned by “the rush to privatisation”.

Queensland Acting Health Minister, Leanne Enoch, said privatisation “will not improve services for (elderly) Queenslanders and in fact could make the system more fragmented and harder to navigate.”

Ms Enoch added: “The Common-wealth thinks a market-led solution is the answer to every problem.”

“The reality is health systems are better placed to make the clinical assessments required to ensure people receive funding packages that reflect their needs.”