Message from the CEO
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2022, Vol. 17, Issue 1.
COVID-19 is still impacting South Australia and our aged care services across the state. ACS is required to implement many COVID-19 strategies as per Commonwealth and State Government requirements in addition to the significant amount of reporting ACS is required to complete.
I would like to acknowledge our staff that have managed the impacts of COVID- 19 and ensured that our aged care services continued to be delivered.
There have been many changes to COVID-19 rules around social gatherings and we are hoping to have an Elders lunch to celebrate NAIDOC Week.
The number of Elders accessing our aged care services continues to grow and we know that there are many Elders in South Australia who are unable to access any form of aged care support. It is our intention to support these Elders.
The Aged Care Royal Commission confirmed what many of us working in the aged care sector know, in that significant changes are required to the aged care service system and the aged care quality framework.
The Aged Care Royal Commission’s Final Report was released over one year ago and included many recommendations, including a whole chapter on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aged care.
Unfortunately, few of these recommendations have been implemented even though over $17Billion has been allocated in federal budgets to address these issues.
ACS is hoping that these changes will be implemented over the coming years to improve aged care outcomes for Elders and aged care providers like ACS. We are currently working with a broken and rigid aged care system and quality framework that lacks cultural considerations.
ACS is involved on national committees to advocate for an improved aged care service system for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The next aged care reform is the amalgamation of CHSP and HCP into a new single “Support at Home Program”. This change will impact the way Elders received aged care services and how aged care service providers operate. The new service is scheduled to start in July 2023.
We will keep Elders informed of these changes as we currently support over 700 Elders across South Australia. For now, ACS will continue to deliver aged care services as usual until we have a better understanding from Government about the changes.
ACS welcomes feedback from our Elders about their aged care services and our service delivery.
