The Missing Piece in Aged Care: Why Spiritual Care Must Be Recognised

As Australia reforms its aged care system, we must ensure it reflects the true needs of older people. Spiritual care—an essential element of holistic care—remains overlooked in key policy settings, and as such potentially leaves a crucial gap in the support provided to aged care recipients.

Catholic Health Australia (CHA), is calling for spiritual care to be explicitly included in residential Care Minutes and the Support at Home program, and will shortly be releasing a position paper to inform this advocacy. Without this recognition, the invaluable work of Pastoral and Spiritual Care Practitioners—who provide essential emotional and spiritual support to older Australians—remains at best unclear, at worst invisible, in funding and policy frameworks.

Spiritual care is not an optional extra, especially in Catholic servies; it is a fundamental component of quality aged care. Research shows that engagement with spirituality enhances resilience, reduces depression and anxiety, and improves overall wellbeing. The Aged Care Quality Standards already acknowledge its importance, yet government guidelines fail to adequately reflect this commitment. Currently, personal care workers who may or may not be providing social and emotional support are counted within Care Minutes, but there is no clear inclusion of Pastoral Care Practitioners—who are credentialed, experienced, and uniquely skilled professionals in this space.

This inconsistency creates a financial burden on faith-based aged care providers and denies thousands of older Australians access to dedicated spiritual support. The situation is similar in home care, where the Support at Home program remains unclear on whether spiritual care is included in its ‘Independence: Social and Community Engagement’ category, particularly within the End-of-Life Pathway.

The government must act. Spiritual care should be explicitly recognised as an eligible emotional support service in Care Minutes, and Pastoral Care Practitioners must be acknowledged as key providers of social and emotional support in both residential and home care settings. Just as pastoral care is valued in some other settings such as palliative care, schools, prisons, and the Australian Defence Force, it must be fully integrated into aged care policy.

For the nearly 250,000 older Australians in residential aged care and the growing number of people receiving home care, this change would mean access to compassionate, holistic care that respects their dignity and acknowledges their spiritual needs.

It is time for policy to catch up with best practice. Recognising spiritual care will not only strengthen our aged care system but ensure that every older person receives the full, person-centred care they deserve.

Brigid Meney is Director of Strategy & Mission at Catholic Health Australia