In its submission to the Tasmanian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Community Development Inquiry into the Dying With Dignity Bill 2009, Catholic Health Australia argued that Tasmania should seek to offer a humane, dignified approach to end-of-life treatment such as palliative care.
Catholic Health Australia explained a number of concerns it had about the existing complaints process in the aged care sector and offered 11 recommendations to improve that process, including relocating the Complaints Investigations Scheme within the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency.
Catholic Health Australia, in its response to the National Health and Medical Research Council's discussion paper, Ethical Issues Involved in the Transitions to Palliation and End of Life Care for People with Chronic Conditions, disagreed with many of the paper's assertions and advised the council of CHA's Code of Ethicals Standards, which outlines the ways Catholic health and aged care services handles issues of end-of-life care.
Having supported and welcomed the introduction of the Aged Care Funding Instrument, Catholic Health Australia offered a number of recommendations it felt would improve the system upon its introduction.
People with a profound or severe disability should be entitled to lifelong care and support, Catholic Health Australia has told the Inquiry. This could be done through a Commonwealth-funded scheme to guarantee appropriate care for all people aged over 65 who are assessed as in need of care, regardless of the setting in which that care is delivered.
Under current arrangements, the Commonwealth is the purchaser and price setter for residential aged care, with provision for co-payments from residents assessed as capable of contributing to the cost of their care. However, because the Commonwealth also controls most aspects of the supply of aged care services, there is no market informed basis for setting prices for these services. Catholic Health Australia argues for a long term and transparent basis for setting fair prices.
CHA's response to the Department of Health and Ageing's recent issues paper on enhanced prudential arrangements for residential aged care accommodation bonds.
CHA has provided a submission to the Productivity Commission in response to its draft Report Caring for Older Australians, which was released in January 2011 for public consultation. In its response, CHA notes that the Commission's draft recommendations embrace the reform directions put in CHA's submissions to the Inquiry, which called for fundamental reform of aged care in order to secure its sustainability and improve its responsiveness to individual consumer needs. CHA's response, however, also canvases a number of aspects of some proposals which, if addressed , would strengthen the overall reform package. Also attached is a supplementary submission made following CHA's appearance at the Commission's public hearings in April 2011 at which CHA was invited to provide specific comment on a number of issues.
In its submission on palliative care in Australia, Catholic Health Australia calls on governments to be mindful of some of society's most vulnerable and marginalised -- including those in prison, those with a disability and those with a mental illness -- when making plans on how best to deliver palliative care.
Click here to read CHA's submission.
Catholic Health Australia has conducted a national survey of aged care providers to assess the level of access to GPs enjoyed by residents of aged care homes, and the quality of information and interactions between GPs and aged care providers.
Click here to access the survey results.
