Funding Aged Care Homes in Regional Australia: Taking Initiatives into your own hands with Chris from Whiddon Aged Care

Australia has an Aged Care Home problem. And it’s already creating pressure in regional communities. Current projections suggest that 80,000 additional beds will be needed over the next decade. They’re currently being built at less than 1,000 beds a year … And the gap is starting to have a very real effect on the industry.  We’re already seeing it play out in service viability, workforce strain and further limiting options for regional families. In this episode, Dane and Rose sit down with Chris Mamarelis from Whiddon Aged Care to talk through what’s happening in regional Australia. From why funding and viability remain the biggest constraints, to how providers are being forced to take matters into their own hands when policy makers just aren’t keeping up. Key moments: 0:00 - Why regional aged care is where the system is breaking first 3:47 - “The problem is viability”: Why services are closing even though demand exists 5:18 - How capital grants are being used to make otherwise unviable regional projects possible 7:41 - How Triple M and regional loadings work and why they’re still falling short 9:18 - Why very small regional homes are becoming no longer viable 13:06 - What Whiddon actually means by relationship based care (with real examples) 18:44 - Why COVID has made people afraid to enter residential care again 21:46 - Recruiting in regional towns vs metro including timelines, agency use + cost 23:38 - The real cost of skilled migration and what Whiddon does differently for its staff 31:12 - Why Whiddon stopped waiting for government and launched a collaborative health model 39:52 - Why Australia is massively underbuilding aged care beds despite clear demand 44:41 - Standalone community providers are being forced to merge or exit 1:00:02 - Chris’s message to the government about funding