Nearly half a billion dollars will be set aside to implement recommendations from the aged care royal commission.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The 2022/23 federal budget revealed $468.3 million would be spent on the government's response to the commission, building on top of more than $17 billion invested in the sector.
There will be $345.7 million in funding for pharmacy services in residential aged care in order to improve medication services for the elderly.
Reforms as part of the royal commission's recommendations are entering the second year of a five-year program.
The government will also commit to more than $20 million to progress work on implementing the Australian National Aged Care classification.
The funding will also be used to support the transition of facilities to a new funding model over a two-year period, which will more closely target the care needs of older Australians from the beginning of October this year.
A further $5.4 million will be spent on continuing consultation to help design wider reforms in the aged care sector.
Among those wider reforms will be a new regulatory framework for the support at home programs.
More than $18 million will be spent over two financial years to help extend arrangements for a surge workforce of quality assessors to conduct audits of residential aged care facilities.
Students wanting to work in the aged care sector will be helped with $32.8 million over four years to provide additional clinical placements.
From 2022/23, $49.5 million will be set aside to provide 115,000 more low and fee-free training places in aged care courses as part of the JobTrainer Fund.
Governance of the aged care sector will be strengthened with a further $6.1 million to extend the regional stewardship outreach model until the end of 2022.
Australian Associated Press
