Grey power unite - Take back the night

John Hargreaves said :

To start criticising the ACT Government for being responsible for this issue is an extremely long bow and shows a real disregard for those in nursing homes. You, who propound this idiocy, should hang your head in shame.

Given that states and territories have their own compliance and regulatory structures in place for aged care, it is perfectly reasonable that the Commonwealth does not duplicate them.

John, you said in your original post that They are planning to downsize the complaints mechanism and asking the residents or their rellies to work it out with the nursing home facility. Self-regulation does not work here. I for one would expect that individuals with complaints about service and care in nursing homes would first address these concerns (unless they involved criminal behaviour or negligence) to the nursing home. Breeding a culture where people run off to government demanding solutions to all of life’s problems is not something I would want to see in our society.

You, who propound this idiocy, should hang your head in shame.

Can you not get out of the sewer in which you were spawned and realise that you too, one day will be in this boat and it is now that we should address the issues, not attempt to rationalize the victimization by way of spurious and childish logic.

I seem to recall a post from you about bullying and playing the topic not the man. Pot, kettle. That is all.

John Hargreaves said :

I thank the rioters who have taken my concerns about the services to older people seriously. The plans by the Federal Govt to reduce the advocacy opportunities for residents in nursing homes is to be appalled as too is the idea of five year accreditation. This is pure abrogation of the responsibility for those who have difficulty caring for themselves.

To start criticising the ACT Government for being responsible for this issue is an extremely long bow and shows a real disregard for those in nursing homes. You, who propound this idiocy, should hang your head in shame.

Can you not get out of the sewer in which you were spawned and realise that you too, one day will be in this boat and it is now that we should address the issues, not attempt to rationalize the victimization by way of spurious and childish logic.

Residents in nursing homes are people with intelligence, integrity, pride and deserve respect.

This federal Government should retract its plans. This is why I start the conversation, not to bag the federal Government. That is as easy as standing on ants. I just want them to change their mind and forget this nonsense.

If I wanted to have a go for its own sake, I would have used language a lot stronger than I did.

…get out of the sewer in which you were spawned” ?

Ok – if we are resorting to personal insults then you must be stupid not to see the point I was trying to make. I am not surprised by that though.

1) It is undeniable that more people in low care Aged Care will increase costs of subsidisation by Government.

2) So, it is inevitable that there will be less money to meet all that cost – including high care Aged Care needs.

3) Ergo, more $/subsiderisation has to be tipped in by Government or the quality of Aged Care, including high needs, will continue to decrease.

4) Keeping people out of lower care Aged Care should help to free up $ for high care Aged Care.

I maintain that the cost of living (including scheduled increases in Annual Rates pa + meeting the cost of the Territory budget deficit and PPPs like light rail) will bring fiorward peoples plans to move into aged care arrangements, rather than try to provide for them selves as planned by self funded retirees.

And BTW – my 90 yo mother has dementia in a high care aged home in NSW – she is seen regularly by family and the staff there are great. Just thought I’d mention that in case you want to sling off again.

John Hargreaves said :

If I wanted to have a go for its own sake, I would have used language a lot stronger than I did.

Can you please have a go for its own sake? I do it all the time, it’s pretty good! I got no issues with strong language.

I thank the rioters who have taken my concerns about the services to older people seriously. The plans by the Federal Govt to reduce the advocacy opportunities for residents in nursing homes is to be appalled as too is the idea of five year accreditation. This is pure abrogation of the responsibility for those who have difficulty caring for themselves.

To start criticising the ACT Government for being responsible for this issue is an extremely long bow and shows a real disregard for those in nursing homes. You, who propound this idiocy, should hang your head in shame.

Can you not get out of the sewer in which you were spawned and realise that you too, one day will be in this boat and it is now that we should address the issues, not attempt to rationalize the victimization by way of spurious and childish logic.

Residents in nursing homes are people with intelligence, integrity, pride and deserve respect.

This federal Government should retract its plans. This is why I start the conversation, not to bag the federal Government. That is as easy as standing on ants. I just want them to change their mind and forget this nonsense.

If I wanted to have a go for its own sake, I would have used language a lot stronger than I did.

rommeldog56 said :

The OP critices the Fed’s for being uncareing and for not being compassionate, for not recognising quality of life in assisted age care facilities. Fair enough – thats what I too think too, a greater or lesser degree.

However, hige care Age Care is one step in the ageing/care process. The ACT Government is also complicit in creating some of these situations. Why ? Because the artificially high cost of Annual Rates inceasing by 10% avg. pa for 20+ years will drive the aging and in particular self funded retirees, either out of Canberra or into aged care of some sort (though probably not initially into high care Age Care – yet) well before that may have happened anyway, simply because those Annual Rates are no longer affordable !

Also, the state of the Territory’s budget and additional costs yet to materalise such as PPPs for Light Rail and the new public service building planned for the Civic – both of which are IMHO, totally unnecessary (but also introduced by the current ACT Gov’t – and voted for by ACT voters), will over time inevitableyput even more pressure on Annual Rates/ACT Gov’t fees and charges – so making it even more difficult for self funded retirees to survive and provide for themselves in the ACT.

Once people get into low care Aged Care, they will usually follow the aged care path into high care Aged Care. So, IMHO, the ACT Gov’t is actually feeding that growth and creating more of the problem that you are complaining about.

If u want to make such allegations against the Feds (& I think u are right about that), then they should equally apply to the ACT Government.

I stand by for the responses from the usual apologists for the ACT Gov’t…….

They have gone to their homes and are awaiting instructions (on how to answer your post).

The OP critices the Fed’s for being uncareing and for not being compassionate, for not recognising quality of life in assisted age care facilities. Fair enough – thats what I too think too, a greater or lesser degree.

However, hige care Age Care is one step in the ageing/care process. The ACT Government is also complicit in creating some of these situations. Why ? Because the artificially high cost of Annual Rates inceasing by 10% avg. pa for 20+ years will drive the aging and in particular self funded retirees, either out of Canberra or into aged care of some sort (though probably not initially into high care Age Care – yet) well before that may have happened anyway, simply because those Annual Rates are no longer affordable !

Also, the state of the Territory’s budget and additional costs yet to materalise such as PPPs for Light Rail and the new public service building planned for the Civic – both of which are IMHO, totally unnecessary (but also introduced by the current ACT Gov’t – and voted for by ACT voters), will over time inevitableyput even more pressure on Annual Rates/ACT Gov’t fees and charges – so making it even more difficult for self funded retirees to survive and provide for themselves in the ACT.

Once people get into low care Aged Care, they will usually follow the aged care path into high care Aged Care. So, IMHO, the ACT Gov’t is actually feeding that growth and creating more of the problem that you are complaining about.

If u want to make such allegations against the Feds (& I think u are right about that), then they should equally apply to the ACT Government.

I stand by for the responses from the usual apologists for the ACT Gov’t…….

“…..The second is that people without relatives in aged care facilities don’t give a monkey’s about the issue…….”

John, I accept that you are very caring about the issues and so I am I.
Unfortunately, a lot of relatives that do have family in aged care are not.
The saddest thing is to visit a loved one in an aged care facility and talk to others there who either have no relatives or friends or worse still, their own children who never go and see them.

Mysteryman said :

So, John, can you tell us in specific terms exactly how the current Federal government has caused the situation which you find to be so appalling, despite the fact that the reforms haven’t yet taken place?

um…….because….. um…… Tony Abbott………..

So, John, can you tell us in specific terms exactly how the current Federal government has caused the situation which you find to be so appalling, despite the fact that the reforms haven’t yet taken place?