The Abbot government has come under fire for being “unresponsive” and “poorly advised” on aged care, placing facilities and workers under unnecessary strain.

The comments follow the recent release of the government’s Aged Care Subsidies and Supplement, which show subsidies at an indexation rise of just 1.3 per cent – a figure that doesn’t come close to the consumer price index estimated at over four per cent.

In a recent statement, chief executive officer of Leading Age Services Australia (LASA Victoria) Trevor Carr said, “aged care is oversubscribed, under-supplied and understaffed and to add salt to injury it seems our ageing Australia is poorly represented”.

He also claimed that consecutive federal budgets have cut a hefty $700 million from aged care providers, subsequently affecting the industry and recipients of aged care.

General manager of operations at Fronditha Care Jim Scantsonihas was unwilling to make a statement regarding the government, though he agrees that the aged care sector is facing challenging times.

“Some of the things that other providers are saying are that the costs of running an aged care facility are going up and the subsidies or the funding that’s coming through is not increasing at the same rate, which makes it harder,” Mr Scantsonihas told Neos Kosmos.

Though he says the level of care being provided has increased, and disputes that all aged care facilities are understaffed.

“From Fronditha’s point of view I think we staff our facilities adequately.

“It’s the expectation of the people who come into aged care thinking that there’s going to be one-on-one care, and that’s just not possible. It’s not like being at home and cared for by your family,” he explains.

However, the fact remains that if Victoria is to adequately cater to the 35,000 additional residential aged care places required in the next 15 years, the sector must source $9 billion of residential capital investment.

“It’s undisputed that our population is ageing. The population of people from 65 on will increase going forward, including the number of people who require dementia-specific care.

“We need to be able to have facilities that are updated and be able to cope with the demand. We also have providers who may have facilities that need upgrading or refurbishment, and that needs to be addressed as well,” said Mr Scantsonihas.

This year’s budget announcement also will see $40 million cut from the Aged Care Workforce Development Fund, which Mr Carr says is “counter productive given workforce availability will shrink in the next 30 years”.

“Aged care will be forced to compete for a shrinking workforce in a highly competitive market environment.”