Aged Care Services is the biggest growth industry in Australia and while we are reluctant to talk about getting older, the fact remains that we have an ageing population that is growing in size.
Canberra client, and the national peak body for age service providers, Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), has forecast rapid growth for the industry and the number of individuals who will require care in future years.
LASA Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Reid said that the most recent assessment of our aged population revealed that there were 3.5 million Australians aged 65 and older, accounting for 15 per cent of the population.
“But over the next 40 years this figure is projected to double, while the number for people aged 75 years and over will increase to around four million,” Mr Reid said.
“For Australians aged 85 years and over, the growth is even more rapid from around 300,000 in 2012 to 1.1 million over the next 25 years.
“The drastic shift in demographics has implications not only for the aged care population, but providers of any service designed for, or relevant, to older people.
“This includes retirement living and home care services as well as residential aged care, and then the services that support these businesses, which range from IT and technology companies to catering and hotel services, recruitment and human resource companies and other B2B services.”
LASA is the only industry peak body to encompass not-for-profit, charity and private providers, with the single aim of creating a sustainable and best practice services industry for older Australians.
The organisation has offices in every state that provide member services across Australia ranging from training and education to events and the latest employment relations advice.
LASA’s members provide retirement living, home and community care, and residential aged care services, but the organisation also works with corporate partners who provide services themselves to aged care providers and their staff or directly to older people.
This includes banks and other financial institutions, superannuation companies, law and accounting firms, business consultancies, recruitment and human resource services, and IT and technology providers.
LASA represents its national membership by working with governments, health and community services and other stakeholders to improve standards, equality and efficiency within age services.
“We undertake this through a number of initiatives, firstly engaging with our members to ensure they are influential in our ongoing work,” Mr Reid said.
“LASA represents them on a number of committees and working groups, we host industry consultations and advisory groups and lobby the state and federal governments.
“We partner with stakeholders across a range of industries, maintain strong contact with relevant media and deliver industry-wide events.”
LASA presents submissions on various topics to ensure issues relating to age service providers are considered before policy, program or legislative changes, offers employment relations advice, and provides registered training, news and publications and events.
Its major industry function is the LASA National Congress, which is now the biggest age services event in our region and is being held this year on the Gold Coast from October 9-12.
The event attracts senior management and executives from all age service providers and is ideal for businesses to break into the industry or to expand their professional network.
Nexia, which manages the organisation’s payroll and financial services, joined LASA National as a corporate partner in 2014 and will again be involved in this year’s congress.
“Through this partnership, Nexia has been able to demonstrate itself as a true thought leader in accounting and financial services to our members via articles in our quarterly journal, information sessions with members and presentations at the National Congress,” Mr Reid said.
Further information about the event is available at: www.lasacongress.asn.au, while LASA information can be found at: www.lasa.asn.au
