Aged care homes are in crisis and have called on the federal government for an urgent funding injection and restructure to keep the sector going.
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Aged Care Deloraine chief executive Charlie Emmerton said it was "really sad" the elderly gets about half the public funding a prisoner gets.
"On average we get $50,000 a year for a resident, which includes their daily care, cleaning, washing, medication and food," he said.
"If I was running a prison I would get $100,000 per inmate."
He was commenting on the latest report into the financial health of the sector, published quarterly by accountants Stewart Brown.
It found 50 per cent of Tasmanian aged care facilities had made a loss in the September 2019 quarter.
According to the data, the average care deficit per day for each resident was $24.78, compared with the national average of $13.96.
Tasmanian occupancy rates also showed the first significant fall in five years, at 93.13 per cent, down from June 2019 at 93.93 per cent.
Mr Emmerton said his facility was now eating through its financial reserves and he knew of others on the North-West Coast that were in a similar position.
If aged care homes didn't urgently get more funding for day-to-day work, it could lead to them becoming insolvent.
Mr Emmerton said the industry needed restructuring.
On average we get $50,000 a year for a resident. If I was running a prison I would get $100,000 per inmate.
- Aged Care Deloraine CEO Charlie Emmerton
"We are in dire straits. There are so many things that need to change."
Peak body Leading Age Services Australia is calling for $1.3 billion extra operational funding over the next 18 months and a restructure.
"This would cut the proportion of loss making providers from around 50 to 30 per cent. We want to avoid the risk of unplanned closures of distressed services."