Moving into a retirement village is a big step for many people, particularly if they have lived in the family home for many years.
The fear that you may later need to leave your village home to move into residential aged care can deter many people from making the move.
While many villages are now co-located with aged care on site, this is not always an option.
However, there are now changes on the way that could make it simpler for older Australians to age in place in their retirement village – and hopefully never leave.
The Federal Department of Health and Aged Care is currently consulting on a new Aged Care Act, the piece of legislation that governs the aged care sector.
One of the options currently being considered by the Department is enabling retirement village residents to be able to pool their Government-funded home care funding to pay for services in the village such as a 24/7 nurse.
While village residents can already receive home care in their village, this new approach would help residents to save considerably on their home care costs – and have more funding for other services, for example, transport or meals.
If this concept is given the green light, it would enable village operators to widen the range of services they offer to residents – and help to keep residents living in their homes for longer, potentially until the end of life.
Simon Miller, CEO of Anglicare Sydney, recently told our sister publication SATURDAY that he anticipates the Federal Government will support the delivery of care services into retirement villages.
We all want to stay in our own homes as we age – could this be the gamechanger?