Changes to aged care:
-At least one registered nurse onsite and on duty always (24/7), at each residential aged care facility.
-An average of 200 mandatory care minutes per aged care resident per day
-Establishing a Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline for aged care residents to provide feedback.
-Introducing ‘star ratings’ to help older people compare aged care homes and make informed choices.
-Funding a 15 per cent wage increase for aged care workers.
Changes to aged care:
-Capping care management and package management fees for Home Care Packages.
-Introducing face-to-face support in Services Australia (Centrelink) service centres.
-Ensuring specialisations on My Aged Care are independently verified.
-Expanding the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program by adding consumer experience and quality of life.
-Introducing a Code of Conduct for aged care to ensure services are delivered in a safe, competent and respectful manner.
Source: www.health.gov.au
Support at Home initiative:
‘Support at Home’ program begins on 1 July 2025, and will help older Australians remain independent, in their home for longer.
Support at Home will provide support for:
-Clinical care (nurses, occupational therapy)
-Independence (Assistance with personal care and taking medications)
-Everyday living (Cleaning, gardening, shopping, meal preparation)
Source: www.health.gov.au
‘Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.’
- John Lennon
Moving house, especially from your home where you may have raised children or lived for decades, into aged care, is a huge life change. As is having professional support in your home to meet additional needs, and adult children caring for their aging parents.
Navigating the aged care sector can be challenging and is not a journey anyone should have to embark on alone.
With new aged care reforms being introduced by the Victorian government, there may be many questions people would like clarified.
Diamond Valley Library will be hosting a session on Understanding Home Care packages on Tuesday 15 October from 1.30pm— 2.30pm.
The session aims to help older people to remain living in their homes safely and independently. Home Care Package providers will be attending to answer any questions you may have about their service.
If learning about aged care in general bamboozles you, drop in to Diamond Valley Library on Wednesdays from 11.30am— 3.30pm until 31 October to learn about the upcoming reforms to the aged care system and give your feedback on what's important to you, or your aging parents when considering aged care.
If you’re seeking further information regarding the aged care reforms, visit: Home Page - Ageing and Aged Care Engagement Hub (health.gov.au)
Learn More!
To enhance your knowledge on caring for aging parents or aging in general, borrow these books:
The new rules of aging well: a simple program for immune resilience, strength, and vitality by Frank Lipman
Frank Lipman, MD, discusses warning signs that you need to change your lifestyle to age well.
He states it’s not your genes, but your lifestyle choices that have a tremendous impact on how you age, and here you'll learn how to make the best choices to look younger and feel better.
Demystifying Dementia: everything you need to know by Rose Capp
This guidebook helps you navigate dementia with the wisdom of author, aged-care specialist and educator Rose Capp.
She explores how to see the world from the perspectives of people living with dementia and the best forms of communication.
We Need To Talk About Ageing: essential conversations and practical advice to navigate the ageing journey with confidence by Melissa Levi
With over a decade of experience specialising in older people's mental health and dementia in Australia, author and clinical psychologist Melissa Levi has helped more than a thousand older people, and their families, navigate the ageing journey.
In this book, she provides expert information on what to expect as you get older, how to identify symptoms of common medical and psychiatric conditions in later life, and, most importantly, what you can do and where to go for help. Melissa also shares practical strategies, tips and discussion prompts, so you are equipped to have conversations about ageing and planning for the future.
Still Caring by Lyndis Flynn
Still Caring shows how families and friends can provide continuing support to elderly people in residential aged care facilities, and how important this is.
Written by two retired social workers with relevant personal and professional experience, 'Still Caring' is an informative and insightful read for anyone supporting an elderly person in residential aged care.
My Parents Are Ageing, What the Heck Do I Do? Understanding Australia's aged care system to support older loved ones at home by Coral Wilkinson
Author Coral Wilkinson is an aged-care aficionado who uses her professional knowledge and personal experience of supporting her parents at home to help you work out what assistance your older loved one needs and how to access the right government programs to support them at home.
Avoiding The Ageing Parent Trap: Essential Information & Solutions by Brian Herd
Explore case studies and practical advice on what you need to know about planning for your parents needs later in life, including legal, financial and healthcare decision making from an elder-care lawyer.
We Need to Talk about Mum and Dad: a practical guide to parenting our ageing parents by Jean Kittson
Also available as eAudio (Borrow Box)
Everything you need to know about supporting ageing parents, from author and comedian Jean Kittson.
This book explores how to support your parents with their health and wellbeing, provides legal information and discusses housing options alongside cartoons from Australian cartoonist, Patrick Cook.
Fridays with my Folks: stories on ageing, illness and how we deal with them by Amal Awad
Amal Awad's life changed when her father was diagnosed with kidney failure, and she began to help her father and support her mother.
Amal speaks with doctors, nurses, an aged care psychologist, specialists, politicians, ageing people living alone and others in a retirement village, to gain insights and to consider solutions.