2021-12-13 GC Agenda - Item 8 -Attachment 1 - Housing Needs Assessment

    a) can not live independently; and
    b) require regular nursing or personal care.
This use is not confined to aged care and might include a convalescent home or accommodation for
younger residents with high care needs.
In terms of residential aged care, a small facility would be one of less than 60 operational places a
large facility is one of over 100 operational places, and a medium facility is in between. At June 2020
more than half of the residential aged care places operated by private organisations were in large
facilities.
During 2020 and 2021 COVID19 has necessitated changes to the operation of residential aged care.
Facilities were required to lockdown and restrict visitors and a sense of isolation would have
increased. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare acknowledge that the number of people
entering aged care services is likely to have been impacted by COVID-19. In some cases, people
may have chosen not to enter care due to the risks of virus transmission and isolation, choosing
instead to seek assistance from formal community care services or to receive additional informal
support from family, friends or neighbours.
13.2        Funding
If a residential aged care resident is eligible for Australian Government assistance, they either pay
nothing or contribute towards the cost by paying an accommodation contribution. If a resident is not
eligible for assistance, they pay the agreed room price as an accommodation payment.
Upon entering care, residents choose one of 3 payment options:
•      a refundable deposit (a lump sum); or
•      daily payments (rental-style payments); or
•      a combination of the two.
Providers cannot require a person to pay any amount of their accommodation costs as a lump sum
before they enter your service. It is up to them how they choose to pay. There has been a trend
towards consumers choosing daily accommodation payments over lump sums meaning less upfront
capital for providers to fund renovations, refurbishments or new developments.


13.3        Aged Care Reform
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was established on 8 October 2018 by
the Governor-General. The Commissioners delivered a final report on 26 February 2021. They
commented—
“A constant theme we have heard throughout our inquiry is that people want to remain at home. For
older people to remain safely in their homes, they must have access to aged care that meets their
assessed needs.”
“We recommend a category of care at home. The care at home category should support older people
living at home to preserve and restore capacity for independent and dignified living and prevent
inappropriate admission to long-term residential care.”
“The residential aged care setting has changed over the years. People now enter residential services
later in their lives. Consequently, many more are frail or have chronic or complex health conditions,
including high levels of dementia.”60
Section 1.3.6 addresses Designing accommodation for quality of life. The following is an extract:




60 Final Report, Section 1.3 A new aged care system




Noosa Housing Needs Assessment 2021                                                          Page 108