12 November 2018
Dr Guy Turnbull will open the annual Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals with a blueprint for action in Australia’s social care sector.
Guy is the current Thinker in Residence at South Australia’s Don Dunstan Foundation, and has been consulting with the South Australian government and private sector on workforce responses to carer shortages forecasted by the NDIA and Department of Aged Care.
“Under the NDIS there are now thousands of mini-commissioners using consumer-directed care, so workforce strategy and planning is crucial,” Guy said. “Co-operatives link who needs what and when – while ensuring the consumer is empowered with choice and dignity.”
Guy links carer co-operatives with allied health professionals, and multi-stakeholder co-operatives of patients, families and workers where each person has equal say in how the care is delivered.
Co-operating with allied health also means carers can advance their careers into different healthcare sectors.
“With a co-operative you can spread over more of the health and care economy. You can offer career progression to carers,” Guy said.
“Co-operatives and mutuals will be crucial to Australia’s future human services delivery,” said BCCM CEO Melina Morrison. “We know the mutual model blends innovative cost-efficiency with values-based care. Consumer-directed funding can work at national level using Guy’s roadmap for scaleable co-operative care.”
NDIS + Aged care workforce shortage
- There are already more workers employed in aged care than there were in resources in the peak of the mining boom (275,100 people were employed in the mining sector in 2012). With 400 Australians turning 75 every day, that number is expected to triple by 2050.
- 60,000 more full time disability care workers by 2019
- An increase from 366,000 aged care workers in 2016 to 980,000 needed by 2050
- By 2024, health and social assistance services will overtake resources as Australia’s largest employing sector, employing 1.8 million people, or 13.4% of total employment
- The largest growth within the sector will be in residential care and social assistance.
Guy Turnbull on employee ownership + mutuals
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