Home care key to caring for ageing population

There is a wave of change accompanying the new Aged Care Act on 1 November, but the sector needs to adapt to the complexity and prioritise a human-centred approach, Saviour Buhagiar, Uniting NSW.ACT director of senior services says.

This requires a focus on the person, not the task – an approach that the not-for-profit found more difficult following Covid and months of reform preparation, he explained to day one delegates of the Ageing Australia National Conference 2025.

It’s hard to maintain focus on the person when so much attention is being placed on compliance but providers need to reflect about how it is shaping the future.

“Because if we don’t shape that future, if we stay focused on meeting the moment and getting our compliance done and getting these nuts and bolts done, then we won’t be doing the right thing by older people,” Mr Buhagiar said.

“The transition to the Aged Care Act… it’s a long journey and we go right back to before the royal commission, we go through Covid and we go through preparation for the Act, and now we go beyond the Act, so it’s a long marathon,” he said.

“Some people talk about it as a bit of a sprint. It’s not. It’s actually been a very long, long journey.”

Uniting submitted five areas, or “destinations,” of focus to the royal commission on providing a rights-based service.

Within those areas, Uniting identified home care as a critical part of improving access to quality care, which Mr Buhagiar shared with delegates so other providers could see how a larger organisation is approaching the “wave of change.”

The population continues to grow and age, and “we’re not going to build our way out of this problem,” Mr Buhagiar told delegates.

“It’s going to be about home care… and it’s got to be about meeting the person where they are,” he added.

It will also be reliant on integrating care across different areas, and a key pillar of Uniting’s approach to their reform preparation has been making sure services are built to allow people to move seamlessly between home care, retirement living villages to residential care depending on their changing care needs.

“We’ve got to think about if we’re going to have a rights-based and person-led approach and we’re going to meet all the people where they are, then we’ve got to be thinking absolutely about home care front and centre,” he said.

“Then we need to think about innovation, because digital is there.”

But providers also need to think about upskilling and bolstering the workforce.

Mr Buhagiar applauded the Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase the award wage for aged care nurses, but reiterated to delegates that it goes beyond wages now, and providers have to think about how they can continue training staff and create opportunities for career growth.

“As a provider, we’ve got to take up that mantle,” he emphasised.

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