AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA was pleased to hear Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, announce this morning that the Coalition’s aged care policy would be released ‘in the next few days’.

Dr Pesce said that aged care has so far been ignored in this election campaign.

“The AMA looks forward to the Coalition starting a bidding war on aged care policy,” Dr Pesce said.

“The AMA believes it is imperative that the major parties make a significant investment in aged care for the long term.

“One of the critical requirements for quality aged care for older Australians is timely access to a doctor.  With the number of aged care places set to double by 2030, the major parties must have policies that guarantee access to an appropriate level of medical services for people being cared for in aged care facilities.

“The aged care sector is repeatedly subject to reports of poor care being delivered in some residential aged care facilities.  Our senior citizens deserve better.

“There must be funding arrangements in place to ensure that older Australians receive access to a doctor through both properly-indexed MBS patient rebates and ‘retainer-type’ arrangements, similar to those flagged by the Health Minister yesterday in regard to Medicare Locals retaining psychiatrist services in the community.”

As set out in the AMA’s Key Health Issues for the 2010 Federal Election, the parties seeking to form the next Government must:

• Develop a specific aged care accreditation standard for medical care to ensure that access to medical care is monitored and scrutinised under aged care accreditation arrangements like other important quality, service and care arrangements;

• Provide funding to encourage arrangements between aged care providers and doctors to ensure ongoing access to medical care in residential aged care;

• Increase MBS rebates for services provided by doctors and practice nurses to reflect the time and complexity of providing ongoing medical care to older people in aged care facilities and in the community;

• Ensure that aged care providers make appropriate facilities available – including adequately-equipped clinical treatment areas that afford patient privacy, and information technology to enable access to medical records and improve medication management;

• Ensure that aged care facilities provide sufficient numbers of registered nurses to monitor, assess, and care for residents, and support the medical care provided by doctors; and

• Introduce sub-acute beds for rehabilitation and convalescence so that there are appropriate services for people who leave hospital but need further care.

30 July 2010

CONTACT:          John Flannery                           02 6270 5477 / 0419 494 761

                        Geraldine Kurukchi                     02 6270 5467 / 0427 209 753

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