About 150 aged care beds are at imminent threat of closure as Illawarra aged care organisations struggle with a shortage of places for older people.
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"Already 250 beds are closed and we think another 150 are at imminent threat of closure," Warrigal CEO Mark Sewell said.
A confluence of factors is putting pressure on Illawarra providers and creating a shortage of beds, including a backlog in planning approvals for new aged care homes, a reliance on overseas students for staff who are currently in short supply and the preponderance of not-for-profit providers, who charge lower fees.
Mr Sewell was one of 10 heads of local aged care providers that met with Illawarra federal MPs on Tuesday to impress upon the politicians the dire state of the sector.
"We are very concerned about the state of aged care in this region with so many beds being lost," Mr Sewell said.
Member for Whitlam Stephen Jones said the key takeaways from the meeting was a more adaptive compliance scheme and opening up migration channels for international workers.
"We know service providers rely on our support to make that happen and that better cooperation will mean better care for residents."
Prior to the election, Labor took the policies of funding a rise in the award wage for aged care staff, mandating a registered nurse be on site 24/7 and requiring 215 minutes of care per resident per day.
"The government is committed to delivering on the promises we made at the election by ensuring older Australians in the Illawarra receive the aged care they deserve," Mr Jones said.
Mr Sewell welcomed these measures but said that with Illawarra aged care providers in crisis, action was needed now.
"We want the places that are facing [closure] to receive an urgent grant to assist them in operating their services until next year [when] the other funding systems are up and running."
While he said he was confident the Albanese government was listening to aged care providers, with many other demographics under pressure, Mr Sewell said older Australians should not be forgotten.
"We think older Australians deserve a priority."