The Hunter could face an aged care "epidemic" by 2050.
A new report commissioned by Alzheimer's Australia has found that the Hunter region will face some of the greatest shortages in aged care positions in NSW over the next 40 years.
The report, titled 'The Access Economics forecast,' was released today and highlights an expected deficit of over 11,150 aged care places by the year 2050, with increasing rates of dementia being identified as the expected cause. The report categorises the deficits by electorate boundaries and identifies the shortages as both community-care packages and individual residential care places.
Of the ten worst affected electorates within New South Wales, three are located within the Hunter region. The highest ranked electorate is Paterson, with a predicted shortfall of almost 3000 places; Shortland is placed eighth and Charlton rounds out the list in tenth place, with a predicted shortfall of over 2200 places.
The Hunter's aging populating has been identified as a major factor by Alzheimer's Australia NSW chief executive John Watkins, who has said that increases in both community care packages and residential-care places as well as thorough planning is needed to be adequately prepared.
"We're expecting the age profile of the Hunter and mid-north coast to be quite old with the large percentage of people over the age of 85," said Watkins.
Jason Falinski, Managing Director of CareWell Health pointed out that this is not just an issue for the Hunter. "In fact, this is just the tip of the ice berg. Unless there is reform, unless the Federal Government is willing to take on the vested interest groups, it is not a matter of if, but when, this crisis will be upon us. Indeed, you could argue that we have passed the point of no return and all that is left for us is how to mitigate against the coming disaster."
"That requires the federal government to acknowledge the size of the epidemic that's coming and start to plan accordingly."
While Watkins acknowledges the high cost of these recommendations, he has said that Hunter families would be left to carry the load if proper actions were not taken.
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