Royal Commission announces hearing on future aged care program redesign for Adelaide next week

Following the two-day workshop earlier this month on the redesign of the aged care system, the Royal Commission will return to Adelaide next Wednesday 4 March 2020 to hear submissions from Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Gray QC (pictured above at the Canberra hearings) on the findings. Mr Gray will make a range of submissions addressing both the Commissioners’ Consultation Paper 1 and evidence from witnesses on issues including:

• information and navigation
• care assessment
• ‘care finders’
• reablement
• respite, and
• aged care settings including home care, residential care and innovative models of care and accommodation.

Like last Friday’s hearing on the aged care workforce, the Senior Counsel will also outline Counsel Assisting’s current proposals on the future of the redesign of the aged care system – albeit with no witnesses. Workshop participants and submissions to the Royal Commission on the Paper had raised a range of issues with the model put forward by the Commissioners, including a possible move towards individualised NDIS-style funding for care recipients. Will the Counsel Assisting change tack – or maintain that the proposed model should be the future of Australia’s aged care system? You can find the details on the hearing here. I will be there to report on the proceedings.