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In this wrap: AICD defends absence of aged care in scholarship round; RSL Care announces partnership with property trust; two-year funding commitment for PICAC program.

In this story:

  • AICD defends absence of aged care in scholarship round
  • RSL Care announces partnership with property trust
  • Two-year funding commitment for PICAC program
AICD defends absence of aged care in scholarship round

The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) has said it recognises the importance of the aged care industry and the women working within it, after it was criticised for not including aged care in its latest scholarship round.

Peak body Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) said it was “disappointed by the failure of the Federal Government and AICD to recognise female leaders working in aged services” in the 40 scholarships announced yesterday.

LASA chief executive officer Patrick Reid said that as the AICD claimed initiatives to boost the number of women on boards, including the scholarship program, were aimed at sectors expected to dominate future economic growth, aged services should be included in the scholarships given it was the largest growth sector in Australia.

“While women make up the majority of the age service industry’s workforce, they remain grossly under-represented at board and executive management level… Aged care should be included in the next round of scholarships, and prioritised in the same way the oil, gas and energy sectors have been in this round,” Mr Reid said.

Responding to the criticisms, the AICD told Australian Ageing Agenda that the sectors in its program were chosen because they were nominated as priorities in the government’s industry innovation and competitiveness agenda.

“We recognise the importance of the aged services industry and women in this sector were eligible for the many other scholarships we have offered in the past year, including those available specifically to women employed by not-for-profit organisations or living in rural and remote areas,” an AICD spokesman said.

Mr Reid added that his comments were not intended to detract from the achievements of the women in their male-dominated industries, and LASA congratulated each of the scholarship winners.

RSL Care announces partnership with property trust

Not-for-profit aged care provider RSL Care has announced an innovative financing model with ASX-listed healthcare property trust Generation Healthcare REIT.

Under the deal, Generation Healthcare will acquire three aged care facilities in Queensland from RSL Care for $45.8 million. In turn, the properties will be leased back to RSL Care for an initial 20-year term.

RSL Care will continue to operate as the approved aged care provider to deliver care at these sites, and will also retain ownership and management of its co-located retirement villages.

RSL Care and Generation Healthcare have also signed a collaboration agreement to acquire further residential aged care properties as part of RSL Care’s strategic growth plan.

Luke Greive, acting chief executive officer of RSL Care said the arrangement would enable the organisation to focus its investment on service delivery. He said the transfer of facility ownership to Generation Healthcare would see no change in resident services.

Two-year funding commitment for PICAC program

The Federal Government has committed $3.8 million to extend the Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care (PICAC) Program for a further two years, the government announced on Monday.

The program aims to equip aged care providers to deliver culturally appropriate care to older people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities through targeted training and resources. The PICAC program funds one organisation in each state and territory.

Parliamentary Secretary with special responsibility for multicultural affairs Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said the investment would have a focus on enabling PICAC organisations to support aged care providers in implementing changes to aged care within diverse communities.

“An additional $100,000 will be made available over the next two years for PICAC to support and promote an understanding of cultural issues and accessibility of services through My Aged Care,” Senator Fierravanti-Wells said.

More than 600,000 people over the age of 65 were born overseas.

Tags: generation-healthcare, picac, rsl-care,

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