SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT

Topics: Aged care patients in hospital; care funding and prioritisation; private health insurance rebates; residential aged care viability.

E&OE……………………………………

KIERAN GILBERT: Live on the programme is the Shadow Aged Care Minister, Anne Ruston, Shadow Minister for Health as well. Anne, thanks for your time. The South Australian Premier today issued a dire warning on the aged care system in your home state of South Australia. He was at an emergency summit this morning. He says if urgent action isn't taken, 700 aged care patients will be stuck in SA hospitals by next winter. How has it got to this?

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, that's obviously a question that we need to be asking the federal government, Mark Butler and Sam Rae: how on earth we've ended up with a situation where we've got massive waiting lists, massive wait times and older Australians stuck in hospitals. We know there are about 3,700 older Australians in hospital today around the country who are clinically able to be discharged, but are not being discharged because the government simply is not prioritising providing the care that they need to be able to get them out of hospitals.

It's not just the South Australian government. Governments of all persuasions around the country are all sounding the alarm bell, but so far, neither Minister Butler nor Minister Rae seems to be taking any notice.

KIERAN GILBERT: So you've obviously been meeting with representatives in the sector today as well on the Gold Coast. You know it very well. This discharge delay: why, given the tens of millions of dollars being invested—the government says there's more money being invested—is there this ongoing delay?

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, it's a very, very good question. We know that last year, just in residential aged care alone, the government banked half a billion dollars of underspend. So they've actually made a saving of half a billion dollars in the residential aged care sector, and yet we've got these people stuck in hospital. And that amount of money would more than cover getting every single older Australian out of hospital. And yet the government is just not doing it.

So the question has to be: are they banking these savings to try to prop up Jim Chalmers' budget bottom line, and do they really care about these older Australians who are stuck in hospital when they don't need to be there?

KIERAN GILBERT: Well, the federal government's saying that it is being dealt with: $600 million, 27 initiatives across the country, and a $25 billion deal with the states to ease the hospital pressure as well. Are we talking about something that is on the right track, at least, that we'll get there? I mean, if you're talking about a $600 million boost, surely that's going to ease some of these pressures.

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, the problem we've got at the moment is the fact that the government is making all these headline announcements about investing this here and that there. But we've not really seen anything happening on the ground or any changes coming about. And the reality is that right now, the government does not prioritise older Australians stuck in hospital when it comes to assessing their care needs to either move them into a residential aged care facility or, hopefully, send them home with the necessary aged care package to support them.

These people in hospital are sometimes told they have to wait eight, nine, ten months before they get their package. That means they're going to be stuck in hospital potentially for that period of time. The government needs to prioritise getting care to people who are stuck in hospital as a matter of priority, instead of just putting them in a standard care priority category.

KIERAN GILBERT: The Premier, if we go back to where we began, released data from SA Health that says if those numbers are realised in winter next year, only one in two priority-one ambulance call-outs will be met. The system will be under that much pressure. So surely something's got to give here.

SENATOR RUSTON: Look, something does have to give. And the fact that you've got governments around the nation of the same persuasion as the federal government calling this out for the crisis that it is heading towards—well, quite frankly, we're already in a crisis.

But then, added on top of that, the government thought it was a good idea to suggest that older Australians who have private health insurance should be hit with another tax, a $3 billion tax, which is just going to mean more older Australians are going to be forced into the public hospital system when we know it's already in crisis.

I mean, the federal government has got to stop worrying about cost shifting and stop worrying about its aged care budget bottom line, and actually start thinking about the reality of these older Australians who need care, who have worked hard all their lives, paid their taxes, paid for their private health insurance, and the government is trying to whack them with another tax. I mean, this is a crisis of the government's own making, and the government needs to fix it.

KIERAN GILBERT: Okay, so what would you do if you were the minister today? What would be the key one or two things you'd need to do to fix this bottleneck?

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, the first thing I'd do is make sure that anybody who was stuck in a hospital bed, who was clinically able to be discharged but waiting for care, would be given the highest priority so that we can get them out of hospital. It's the worst place for them, and it's the most expensive place for them. I'd also get rid of this computer-generated algorithm that is giving people care assessments that don't meet their needs, and put humans back in control of being able to override any decision that comes from a computer.

So I think there are a couple of things that we could do very, very quickly to alleviate some of this pressure. But also, I'd start working with the states and territories to find out what their issues are on the ground. I mean, Minister Rae refused to turn up to this crisis summit in South Australia today. The Minister needs to get out there and talk to the people who are being impacted: state governments, older Australians and the people who are providing the care.

KIERAN GILBERT: The Salvos are leaving this sector, the residential aged care sector. They've provided support for more than a century in this space. What do you make of their departure?

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, it's incredibly concerning. I mean, obviously, the specific circumstances around the Salvation Army's decision are a matter for them. But it's part of a broader issue where the sector is saying the government is just not paying any attention to the fact that their inflationary costs are going through the roof. The very hardworking aged care workers were awarded a significant pay increase, which needs to be funded. And yet the government has completely underfunded its increase in care funding for the residential aged care sector in October.

I mean, the government actually has to start being realistic about what it's doing here and understand that we're going to see more and more Salvation Armies if we don't actually make the sector viable. I mean, more than 60% of aged care providers last year said they were operating at a loss. That can't go on for terribly long.

KIERAN GILBERT: Shadow Health and Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston, appreciate you joining us.

ENDS