From birth there are only 3 certainties in life:
One reason is that Australia’s population is ageing with the proportion of people aged 65 and over rising.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics between now and 2050
To put this into perspective currently there is approximately 5 people of traditional working aged for every two 65+ person.
By 2050 it is estimated that there will only be 2.7 people of working aged for every person 65+
The second reason is changes to pension eligibility and aged care funding.
The Australian government has been aware for some time that our increasing ageing population will place significant strain on the Australian budget.
To address the issue the government has shifted from a Social Welfare Aged and Disability policy model to a “Consumer Directed Care” policy model. This means that the government considers ageing and aged care outcomes to be the responsibility of the aged individual, as well as that of the service providers they rely upon.
More and more the Australian government is creating policies with the intention of distancing themselves from responsibility or liability with respect to the health and wellbeing of our aged population.
This was evident recently with the need to involve the Royal Commission to investigate why many of our frail aged and most vulnerable were not receiving “quality assured care” from private contracted residential and home care services.
The third reason is that despite the majority of older adults wishing to remain in their own homes and communities throughout their old age, approximately 28% of males and 46% of females will be admitted into residential care at some point, often prematurely.
There maybe many reasons for premature residential care. Some include; lack of knowledge of what choices/options are available, long waiting time for needed home services, no family or carer support, grief and loss, financial hardship, homelessness, cognitive or physical decline, depression/mental health, social isolation and repetitive falls/injury (a result of unsafe home set up).
The fourth is many of our older community rely on government subsidised Home Care to remain in their home.
Sadly, eligibility to receive government subsidised Home Care is becoming more difficult to receive. Unless you are on a full government pension, you will need to be means tested. This means that part pensioners or fully self funded retirees will need to pay much more for home care services to remain at home which can become expensive.
Lastly, many of our aged are not receiving the support they need to die peacefully and with dignity. As a community we could be doing so much more.
We believe that It takes a Village to provide what a person may need as they age and move towards end of life. Charlie’s Gift aims to be part of this village. We know that only by working together as a community can we enable sustainable and optimal aged care and end of life care.
By bridging the gap between what what our aged want and need and what they can access in relation to information, supports and services. We aim to do this by connecting them to what or who they need at the time that they want and need it.
Take a look at our Mission to learn more…
The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, University of Canberra, stated; “The Government has put their three pillar retirement income policy in place too late to provide an adequate income in retirement for the large baby boomer group of Australians”. What is the purpose of this income policy? “to encourage self-provision in retirement and reduce the future cost of public (unfunded) pension schemes”.
Research from the National Seniors Australia and Group Homes Australia stated in their summary “Worryingly, two in three people aged over fifty intend to remain in their current home as they age, yet only one in three (38%) have plans in place to prepare for getting older and becoming frailer”.
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/social-isolation-and-loneliness
