Aged Care
(The information below is from the NAB 2022-2023 Federal Budget article).
The Government have focused a large area of this year’s budget on preparing aged care services and centres in living with COVID-19, the funding for this is listed below:
The Government will spend $458.1 million over the 5 years from 2021-22 to provide additional COVID-19 support for the aged care sector. This funding includes:
- $215.3 million over 2021-22 and 2022-23 to provide bonuses to aged care workers in residential aged care and home care.
- $124.0 million in 2022-23 to fund the Aged Care Preparedness program to support providers to manage and prevent COVID-19 outbreaks and transition to living with COVID-19.
- $50.4 million over 4 years to train the residential aged care workforce to deliver vaccinations.
- $37.6 million over 2 years to provide infection prevention and control training for qualified nurses in residential aged care.
- The Government has pledged an additional $122.6 million over 5 years from 2021-22 as part of the existing funding package in response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety
- The majority of this funding is focused on improving the administration of medication management for residential aged care residents, along with funding for workforce training, regulatory and professional support
When it comes to specifically focusing on aged care workers and those coming into the industry, the government have put the below forward:
The budget will fund 15,000 low fee and free training places in aged care courses from January 2023, with a $48.5 million investment over two years as part of the Job Trainer Aged Care Boost.
(The information below is taken from the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Health overview of the 2022-23 Budget related to aged care, click here to read more.)
Further to the data above, as part of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety response, the Australian Government have committed $7.7 billion to home care reforms, including 80,000 additional home care packages (40,000 in 2021–22 and 2022–23) and $10.8 million to support the design of the new Support at Home program.
The 40,000 home care packages in 2022–23 will enable around 275,600 people to access a package on 30 June 2023. This is around 215,000 more people than 30 June 2013 (60,308).
Disability
In regards to assistance and funding in the disability sector, the Federal Government have focused in on Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031. This includes $76.8 million for Targeted Action Plans, with $21.7 million provided for Employment, Safety, Early Childhood and Community Attitudes in the first three years.
Some of the areas they have listed to support include:
- Employment and financial security
- Safety, rights and justice
- Personal and community support
- Health and wellbeing
Additionally, they have set out the following funding:
- $72 million for reporting, data and research to show what change is being achieved for people with disability
- $10.1 million to engage people with disability in the implementation of the Strategy
- $81.2 million to continue the Disability Information Gateway
For further information on the new financial year’s budget, click here.
(The above information was taken from the Australian Government Budget 2022-23 website)