Writer
Kathy Eagar
Professor Kathy Eagar is Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology. Professor Eagar has undertaken extensive work in the aged care system over the last two decades. She led the design of the new Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) and funding model for residential aged care and undertook research commissioned by the Aged Care Royal Commission into the adequacy of residential aged care staffing.
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Albanese government wedged on aged care
With a Medicare-style levy and changes to the treatment of family home both ruled out, the only choice left is more user-pays. But it will not be enough. Continue reading »
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Mid term Aged Care Report card: 5/10 – must try harder
The election of the Albanese Labor government was met with a strong sense of optimism among people who had been lobbying for aged care reform for years. Finally, a government prepared to address the systemic issues that had plagued the sector since the Howard government neo-liberal reforms decades before. Alas, it was not to be. Continue reading »
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A Labor budget to address workforce shortages in aged care
A 15% pay rise forms the centrepiece of Labor’s 2023 aged care budget. It is one of three significant aged care reforms that Labor has introduced since coming to office – a new funding model, mandated minimum staffing and now a pay rise for aged care workers. It’s a great start. But there is much Continue reading »
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None of us is safe until all of us are safe: Australia and global vaccine equity
Ending COVID public health restrictions reflects community sentiment. People are tired of COVID and want to move on. But the only way to protect our own citizens is to protect other countries. Continue reading »
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Aged care again bears the tragic brunt of a COVID-19 wave: why?
The sector that includes some of our most vulnerable citizens was unprepared for the end of lockdowns: the Commonwealth is overwhelmingly to blame. Continue reading »
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Covid and aged care: When you are in a deep hole, the most important thing to do is stop digging.
The bottom line is that the needs of older people cannot be met unless aged care is better integrated with hospitals and health care managed by states and territories. Continue reading »
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The Aged Care Royal Commission: the government responds with more money but the structural problems remain.
The Royal Commission’s first report elegantly articulated the problems that needed to be fixed. The Royal Commission’s final report was full of inconsistencies but had something for everybody. The ‘winners and losers’ have now been revealed in the government response and 2021 budget – and surprisingly, they are not who the government would like you Continue reading »
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Aged care – where sexism and ageism walk hand in hand
Double jeopardy: being female and being old. Continue reading »
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Fundamental failure: Aged care a public good or competitive market? RC fails to address role of private providers
The Royal Commission’s first report elegantly articulated the problems that needed to be fixed. The final report fails to set out a coherent package of practical solutions this same RC identified in ‘Neglect‘. Significant increases in funding are required. But they need to have big strings attached. Amazingly, the Royal Commission failed to address this Continue reading »
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Aged care: Commissioners hand government a ‘get out of jail’ card with disagreement between Commissioners.
Observers of the Aged Care Royal Commission were witness to an unprecedented sight at its final public hearings last week when the two Commissioners disagreed publicly on the future governance arrangements for Australia’s failing aged care system. Continue reading »
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Aged care and the magic pudding
Australia needs a modern fit for purpose aged care system that is affordable and responsive to the needs of older people and their families. At the same time, it must not impose an inequitable burden on younger people. Continue reading »
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Aged Care: Human Right or a market opportunity
The overwhelming evidence is that, after more than two decades, the private-for-profit market model has not resulted in the improvements that were expected – more competition, more choice, improved efficiency, improved access and so on. It is time to conclude that aged care should no longer be framed as a private market. If it has Continue reading »
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The (failing) aged care system we have in 2020 operates exactly as it was designed to – Part 2
The starting point for a fit-for-purpose, 21st-century aged care system is public recognition that we can no longer continue to simply subcontract out our public duty of care for frail and vulnerable people. Older Australians deserve so much better. Continue reading »
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The (failing) aged care system we have in 2020 operates exactly as it was designed to – Part 1
Outsourcing the government’s duty of care for older Australians has been at the core of structural failings in aged care for the last two decades. Covid-19 is just the latest in a long string of failures. Continue reading »
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Aged care homes: the weakest COVID-19 link
A pandemic throws a perfect mirror onto a society and shines a light on every crack. There is no better illustration of this than the light that COVID-19 is throwing on aged care homes in Australia and internationally. Continue reading »
