What the Tasmanian Liberals will do:

Double the number of step-down beds at Huon Eldercare for convalescing patients living in the Huon region.

The Tasmanian Liberals will:
Extend the DHHS contract for Huon Eldercare to establish a further six transitional beds, effectively doubling the availability of step-down beds in the Huon area.

Why this policy is needed:
Huon Eldercare Inc. is a residential aged care, community and flexible aged care and rural health provider, and provides independent living accommodation in Franklin.  It is run by a non-government organization.  It has 90 beds, 81 aged care (permanent), 3 respite care (1 high care, 1 low care and 1 high care dementia specific) and 6 rural health or sub-acute inpatient beds funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

According to the 2007 Primary Health Plan, the people occupying these step-down or sub-acute beds are generally elderly, come from the local community and are long-stay, however they are available for convalescing patients of all ages.  The average length of stay in a sub-acute bed at Huon Eldercare is 27.5 days. 

Some of those patients have been transferred from the Royal Hobart Hospital to convalesce in their local community amongst family and friends.

Huon Eldercare plays an important step-down role in the community and there is little other step-down care available in the Huon Valley.

It is estimated the six sub-acute or step-down beds at Huon Eldercare cost approximately $293 a day.  Given it costs three times as much to keep convalescing people who cannot yet return home, or those waiting for aged care placement, at the Royal Hobart Hospital, it makes good economic sense to create more step-down care in our rural hospitals.

It is Liberal policy to work with rural providers around the State to identify more opportunities like this.

From a human perspective, it is also preferable to allow elderly people to convalesce in their own communities close to family and friends.

With projections that the elderly population (75-plus) in the Huon Valley will increase by 110% between 2006 and 2018, additional step-down beds is a sound investment in rural health and will take the pressure off beds in our major hospitals.

In late 2009, Huon Eldercare received two of the five inaugural Tasmanian Aged Care Awards, the Aged Care Organisation Award and the Community Award in recognition of its two auxiliaries.

Huon Eldercare is one of the biggest employers in the Huon Valley, with over 140 staff, and a fantastic volunteer base.  The Liberal policy secures those jobs and will help create more.

After more than 11 years of Labor...
The State Labor Government’s record in supporting rural hospitals has been abysmal.  It closed sub-acute beds at Ouse, and attempted to significantly downgrade hospital services at Rosebery.

Despite its own Primary Health Plan recommending an examination into the feasibility of increasing step down beds in the Huon region, there is no evidence that this has occurred.

In the meantime, the Government is paying three times as much to keep patients in the Royal Hobart Hospital when those patients could be convalescing in their own community, making it a lot easier for their family and friends to visit.