By Mikayla van Loon and Renee Wood
Yarra Ranges Council has opted to remove itself from offering some aged care services, leaving 35 staff members at risk of losing employment and 1500 residents in need of finding a new provider.
The decision was made at the 24 August council meeting, with the release of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety findings affecting council’s decision.
Under the reforms, the Commonwealth Home Support Program, which currently helps to fund the council’s services, would cease to exist and would transform into an aged care system that relies on a competitive market.
This aims to give the client more choice and control over their service provider and hopes to boost competition between services to ensure the best quality care is given to clients.
Councillors described it as a “head over heart” decision, with Mayor Fiona McAllister saying it felt as though the council had been “backed into a corner.”
Yarra Ranges Council believes it would face financial strain with the introduction of the new model and wouldn’t be able to compete in a market among private providers with no government funding, as a new national pricing framework is also to be introduced.
“Tonight’s decision is probably one of the most difficult I’ve had to make so far as a Councillor but I also know I have to make a decision that’s right for not only our community but for the council and make a strategic decision and one with my mind not my heart,” Councillor Catherine Burnett-Wake said.
“Acting now ensures seamless transition, whilst ensuring our community members and our workers are supported.”
Up to 35 council staff will be affected by these changes, with the council stating there could be options of redeployment throughout the organisation, but many staff could be made redundant.
Australian Services Union secretary Lisa Darmanin believes the decision will be bad for the community and workers.
“Council’s decision will push already low paid workers into insecure work where their wages and conditions will also be reduced,” Ms Lisa Darmanin said.
“The ASU’s experience is community members who rely on outsourced in-home aged care services experience reduced continuity of care.”
By making the decision, domestic assistance, personal care, respite care, social support for individuals, home modifications, property maintenance and Home and Community Care for Younger People will no longer be delivered by council after June 2022.
“I want to make it very clear that no services will be withdrawn from the community but the provider of some services will change and others will continue to be delivered by the council,” Councillor Jim Child said.
Yarra Ranges Council will continue to provide meals on wheels, transport, social support groups and healthy and active aging programs.
Council sought legal advice on the decision to exit in home care and believes other local government providers will be doing the same.
However, Councillor Tim Heenan couldn’t understand why council did not consider Home Care Packages as a viable option.
“I really think we should have received more of the story in past opportunities from the councils that have decided to stay with it and have provided those Home Care Packages to see whether we could do that,” he said.
“These are our residents and the more and more that we do these sorts of things, the more and more it appears to our ratepayers, our residents and our community that we are focusing on the corporate situation and not what we do really well as a local government.”
The Australian Services Union is also concerned over a lack of community consultation.
“Council did not consult the broader Yarra Ranges community before making this decision, and service users were informed of the changes rather than asked what was best for them,” Ms Darmanin said.
Council acknowledged no client or broader community consultation was conducted.
This is despite the issue being deliberated since last year, following the motion being deferred at the December 2020 meetings to await more clarity from the findings.
Money will also come into question, with $1.2 million put towards these services annually to be redirected.
Council is looking to disperse the funds to support the remaining services and to provide a watchdog service to ensure residents are receiving the best care from new providers.
All Councillors agreed the council needed to assume the role of advocate for its clients, to avoid a similar recurrence happening as 2017 NDIS transition which left hundreds of residents without a provider for nine months.
Cr Heenan and Councillor Len Cox were worried about the impact this transition would have on the community, leaving the most vulnerable with potentially more expensive services, limited client to staff ratios and without personalised support.
“For a very long time Yarra Ranges Council has been at one with a lot of its residents and has been doing a lot of work that loved ones and families can’t do,” Cr Heenan said.
“We say that only some of the actual decisions will change and nothing will disappear but it will be out of our control and as time goes on, my concern is the same level of support will not be there.”
Council will now look to develop a communication and transition plan for clients and staff and develop information programs to support residents switching to new providers.
