Cr Anthony Marsh*
AGED care is a complex issue with no easy answers and Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors share Dr Sarah Russell’s concern for the wellbeing of our older residents and are deeply committed to supporting our older population and ensuring the peninsula is a place where people can age well.
Since we became aware of the federal government’s aged care reforms in 2016, we have worked hard to determine the best approach and outcomes for our community.
It was disappointing to see the many inaccuracies in Russell’s opinion piece regarding recent changes to in-home aged care on the peninsula (“Shire not forced to drop aged care services” The News 2/8/22).
The claim that our withdrawal from aged care has been done by stealth could not be further from the truth. We began consulting with the community about the reforms in 2018. Once a decision on the way forward was made in 2020, we made sure our clients were fully informed via letters, newsletters and further community engagement.
Russell’s suggestion that council did not gain “informed consent” from our clients before passing on their details to the new providers is also untrue. We held a thorough process to help our clients through this transition process, including strict adherence to privacy principles for data sharing.
We decided to transition to new providers this year to give our community the best chance at attracting quality service providers in readiness for the federal government’s new open market system.
Residents of Darebin and Moonee Valley are in an enviable position of having a number of aged care providers already established and providing services to their community. The peninsula had no provider other than council delivering these services in an area spanning more than 10 times the size of these other councils.
We needed to ensure our residents had choice and the advantage of a competitive market environment.
The federal government appointed the new providers, we did not get a say in this process.
We sought and were given assurances by both providers and the federal government that all essential services would continue to be delivered from 1 July. Council offered to keep some staff on to help with the transition, but that offer was turned down.
The welfare of our older residents is a major priority for council, and we will continue to advocate to the federal government to make sure older people receive the support they need to remain independent and involved in the community. We have already committed $1 million to positive ageing initiatives during this transition, and our future budgets will see a significant contribution to positive ageing and wellbeing programs.
The shire will continue to provide regional assessment services, meals on wheels and dial-a-bus services. We will also continue to deliver services to our current home and community care program for younger people (HACC-PYP), clients who are 64 and under or 49 and under for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents.
*Anthony Marsh is the mayor of Mornington Peninsula Shire
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 9 August 2022
