Corporatisation of Aged Care Changed Everything
Putting profits ahead of purpose has been a contributing factor in the tarnished reputation of aged care provision in Australia. With tight financial constraints, the entrance of large corporate entities primarily focussed on the bottom line was never going to uphold the care expectations of our community. Billboards, signs on buses and stock images in trendy magazines was a fa?ade that the Australian public and regulators will surely see through with ease.
The small organisations are few and far between, the local providers with local knowledge, wanting to support small businesses and communities with passion has been put at risk. Remote management, 1300 phone lines and corporate boards with fancy branding have replaced in-touch, front running managers with focus on care standards and holistic wellbeing experiences.
Sure we have come a long way from the past days of old homes being refitted to cater for the aged with matrons who managed a largely nursing workforce. However the trend for hotel style, standardised fit out for modern, new purpose-built aged care facilities may have gone too far. The “recipes” for builds include meterage, fittings and direction based on maximal profits and perceived highest satisfaction, but is there evidence that this remedy is most appropriate or ultimately comforting ‘just like at home’? Did anyone stop to ask the care recipients whether they wanted to live in a hotel with an ensuite bathroom?
Charging modern facilities with cool hues and fashionable fittings to become “homely” is stuffing a square peg into a round hole. With the demise of our local grocer, bottle shop, the corner store and the weekly markets with the “Woolworths effect”, we are seeing a similar progression in the aged care industry. The smaller players will find it increasingly difficult to survive with the purchase power, the efficiencies and the expensive marketing strategies and dirty tactics of the larger corporate entities. Is this what our senior Australians deserve after years of service and hard yakka for our country? Should we allow the larger corporates to muscle out the smaller, committed and bespoke offerings in aged care as well, or could we try and change the playing field?
The treadmill is well and truly running, the cogs are continuing and the opportunity to save the personality and unique approach of boutique aged care could well be missed forever. The time for action, reassessment and planning on a level playing field is now and certainly at Ananda, we for one hope we can continue to support our loyal, local networks, but its an unsettling time and the preservation of small scale quality and genuine care should be a priority.
Dr Pooja Newman, MBBS
Clinical Director Ananda Aged Care, founder globalaai