A new vision for aged care in regional Australia

Systemic change is needed to improve outcomes for older people and their families in regional Australia, and that means looking at the framework for delivery of care.

Aged care in rural, regional and remote settings in Australia is inherently different and faces unique challenges compared to metropolitan services. Availability of places that ensure people can receive appropriate levels of care for their needs, a critical shortage of aged care workers, and reasonable access to allied health professionals to address the variety of health issues in a community, are all difficulties providers grapple with.

Southern Cross Care Queensland is an aged care provider focused on innovation in delivery of care, which values and respects the individual to ensure quality of life.

In Chinchilla, a town in regional Queensland’s Western Downs, Southern Cross Care QLD has collaboratively developed a new approach to deliver a new multi-disciplinary project which would address issues of access to appropriate care, isolation and loneliness. Their vision is to deliver residential and respite aged care, together with new allied health services and alongside an in-community training facility to grow a local pool of allied professionals. This new service hub would provide a framework for older people to age in a place that could be replicated across other regional, rural and remote areas in Australia.

H/Advisors APA works with Southern Cross Care QLD to raise awareness of the project with the Federal and State Government as well as media and community stakeholders, explaining the benefits of this holistic approach which puts individuals and their communities at its centre to effect change across the industry.