A complicated road to rights-based care – While promising ‘a once-in-a-lifetime’ change, the new act still requires significant resources to understand and improve

The Royal Commission laid bare the need for significant overhaul. The majority of providers lent their voice to affirming the need for change and improvement. Since November 2024, when the new legislation was passed, industry leaders and advocates have been relentlessly showing up to help shape the act to mean that, on the ground, the changes will be felt for the vulnerable seniors at its heart. However, as numerous leaders from Uniting’s Tracey Burton, Juniper’s Russell Bricknell and long-time respected advocate Peter Willcocks attest, there is still so much to be done to ensure the sector is set up for sustainable success in senior care, with Support at Home growing as a program of concern.

Seniors: confusion and fear over costs

In a move of professional and personal kindness and openness, BaptistCare’s CEO, Charles Moore has shared a perspective that many leaders in the industry have been feeling but unsure of how to voice.

Through social media Moore indicated the element of complexity and confusion that seniors, and industry professionals, are feeling about not only the new act, but critically, the new pricing models. Quite simply, how much is it going to cost everyone and will they be able to access timely care when needed?

With the new act freshly active he shares, “I might be the CEO of BaptistCare, one of Australia’s largest aged care providers, but I’m also supporting my Mum and Dad navigate the aged care system.”

Hello Leaders has had the privilege to speak to many innovative, brilliant and heart-felt leaders in aged care, and a key trend that emerges is that it is complicated. The legislation is complicated. The rules are complicated. And particularly of note, humility must be central because, “even after twenty years, there’s always something new to be learned”, a former nurse shared. In short, for those at its heart, for those closest to the legislation, rules, compliance measures and obligations, it can be, frankly put, complicated and confusing, how much more so for the seniors looking to navigate it? Minister Butler himself noted the, “very complicated” nature of figuring out the Support at Home’s co-contribution system.

“Older people like my Mum and Dad are trying to figure out how much it will cost and whether they will get quality services and an optimal level of care during this period of enormous disruption and change”, Moore shares.

“[They] are fearful that the care dad will need, will [not] be ready when he needs it.”

These words from an industry leader are not just resonant, heart-felt and important, they are critical for the implementation of the very act itself. No senior should be fearful about accessing care. No senior should be confused about how much everything will cost. Honestly from a learned professional, from their own personal experience, about areas to improve should be the first resource for government and industry reform.

From advocate Peter Willcocks, to Juniper’s Russell Bricknell and countless others, there is much work yet to be done on the Support at Home program to make it viable, equitable and effective. With thousands still waiting for packages, with many wait times exceeding a year, the program is not meeting needs with grievous results.

Providers: last minute rules

Hello Leaders has been able to hear that many provider leadership are flabbergasted that the government thought it appropriate to publish the last of the rules of the new act on the 26^th of September, a month and a few days before the new act came into effect.

For industry professionals who have been working hard to parse through the language of the new act, and the rules that have been drip-fed, receiving last of the rules with a mere month not only entrenches providers to be on the back-foot but limits their ability to pivot practices and procedures that they ardently wish to meet to support their residents.

The sentiment at large is that in order for such a lift to be done well, effectively and most importantly, sustainably, there is room for government to not only treat the timeliness of rules with greater sense, but to respect the reality of change bringing confusion.

The lead up to the change was the time for rules examination, assessment and questioning by aged care providers, not to receive the rules with a month to spare.

It is now, under the new act, that providers are seeking to wrap their heads around understanding the wording, essence and implication of the rules, and how they are to be interpreted to not only meet compliance in letter but in the humanity of rights based care.

Starting early

From long-term advocates, to CEOs of providers, the advice is clear, start early. Navigating the government’s information on the new act, and particularly what each individual senior is looking at paying out of pocket for either RAC or the new Support at Home, will take considerable time.

The “Working out your costs” resources is a good place to start but experts warn that navigating the system, particularly for the first time can be slow, frustrating and confusing. Starting early is a move that may allow seniors and loved ones to navigate it with time, with the opportunity to write down and ask as many questions as needed.

The act, its rules, how it works on the ground should not need a CEO in the family to help navigate. Part of rights-based care starts with being able to understand it in the first place, for seniors and much forgotten in this discourse, front-line staff. Front-line staff must have the training, time and resources to fully comprehend the new act and its rules in order to not only do their jobs well but feel confident in doing them at all.

It will take all parties, government, provider, advocate, clinical leaders, seniors and loved ones to get this right. It is now never more important to lean into the conversation to guide reform to be sustainable, effective and humane.