Time Well Spent

When average home care returns swing from +$3.13 a day into negative territory, business as usual is no longer an option.   In this episode we sit down with returning guest Stu Hutcheon, Managing Partner at Stewart Brown, the firm behind the financial benchmarks used by both Government and industry to evaluate Australian aged care.   Following the Support at Home rollout, Stu unpacks the sobering data, uncovers the root causes of the financial squeeze, and shares the exact pricing, rostering, and strategic levers leadership teams must pull to remain viable Key moments: 00:00: The Real Reason Aged Care Providers Are Still Operating in the Red 3:44: How Support at Home Margins Flipped from +$3.13 to Negative Territory 7:09: Why Package Utilisation Collapsed to 62% (And What’s Driving Consumer Fear) 13:29: How Care Manager Caseloads Blew Out to 53 Clients per Partner 17:35: What IHACPA Benchmarks Miss 20:10: Why Home Care Can’t Fix a Broken Residential System 27:06: 62% of Residential Homes Are Losing Money 34:14: How RAD Funds & Smart Tech Can Unlock Hidden Operational Margins 47:10: Does Scale Actually Save You? The Truth About Mergers & Bed Volume 57:05: The Single Policy Change Needed for Long-Term Aged Care Sustainability — If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.   If you have something you want to say, and are interested in being a guest on Time Well Spent, we want to hear from you - you can find the guest form here: https://timewellspentpod.com/ And if you want to connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast, you can find them on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast

Think more regulation, higher staffing, and modern buildings guarantee better aged care? Think again.  In this episode, we tear down 7 massive myths choking the aged care sector. From mandatory care minutes to the hidden trap of "safety first" culture. We expose why an $800 million compliance machine isn't improving life for residents and how rigid rules actively punish innovation.  Listen in to discover what actually drives quality of life in care and why industry leaders must get bold to fix a broken system. Key moments: 00:00: Why $800M in Bureaucracy Isn't Improving Care 11:24: The Real Reason Care Minutes Aren't Working 12:22: How the "Bystander Effect" Can Harm Resident Care 16:29: What Luxury Foyers Are Hiding in Aged Care 23:52: Why "Safety First" Is Stripping Resident Autonomy 33:58: How Tech Funding Rules are Blocking Real Innovation 37:29: The Real Reason Aged Care Isn't Broken by Money Alone 47:28: Why Building More Beds Won't Solve the Crisis 50:03: How Aged Care Leaders Need to Be Bolder — And if you want to connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast, you can find them on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.  

The Aged Care Tsunami is Coming and We Are Completely Unprepared… By 2040, Australia’s population over 85 will double, threatening to trigger a full-blown collapse of the aged care system.  In this episode, we sit down with Simon Kuestenmacher, a leading demographer, columnist, and Co-Founder of The Demographics Group, who is widely recognised as one of the world's top data visualisation influencers. Together, we break down Australia's looming workforce collapse, the critical role of skilled migration, and how technology must bridge the gap before it is too late.  Tune in to understand the hard, data-driven facts of where the nation is heading and why this conversation matters for every worker, family, and business owner today. Key moments: 00:00 Why Australia's Aged Care System Faces Guaranteed Failure by 2040 05:00 How Dementia Data Exposes the Massive Scale of Our Healthcare Crisis 08:25 Why Tasmania Holds the Key to Solving Australia's Ageing Population Problem 10:11 How Red Tape and Bad Data Hold Back Healthcare Innovation 15:00 How Cover My Ass Bureaucracy Is Strangling Government 18:45 Why University Overeducation and Low Wages Are Driving Staff Out of Care 21:54 How Employer-Sponsored Visas Can Fix Australia's Skilled Labour Deficit 25:14 The Truth About Net Overseas Migration and Common Economic Myths 29:30 Why AI and Robotics Won't Magic Away Our Healthcare Workforce Deficit 35:12 Navigating Retirement: The Mental Benefits and the Post-Career Trap 41:20 Why Building Physical Nursing Homes Won't Solve the Demand Surge 48:47 How Modern In-Home Care Models Satisfy What Retirees Actually Want 53:22 How the Shrinking Middle Class Is Threatening Regional Care Access 59:33 The Exact Reforms Needed to Save Australia's Failing Care Sector Connect with Simon on LinkedIn or Instagram. Check out The Demographics Group here https://www.tdgp.com.au/ — If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.  If you have something you want to say, and are interested in being a guest on Time Well Spent, we want to hear from you - you can find the guest form here: https://timewellspentpod.com/ And if you want to connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast, you can find them on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast

What if the secret to fixing aged care is stepping completely outside the traditional system?   In this episode, we sit down with Grescha Brewer and Shelly Fletcher from Honeybee Homes, a bold micro-housing initiative in NSW proving that small-scale sharehouses beat rigid institutions every time. Both seasoned registered nurses who spent decades on the frontlines of traditional aged care, Grescha and Shelly got sick of system constraints and have built something better: normal homes where elders actually want to live.  We tackle the hard conversations about what needs to change in Aged Care policy and practice and how micro-sharehouses could be the answer.  Key moments: 00:00: What is a micro-sharehouse in Aged Care 12:57: Why wrapping elders in cotton wool destroys quality of life 15:58: How the 4 Cs care model supports residents all the way to end of life 24:11: How locked doors exacerbate distress in dementia care 25:04: How micro-housing builds true neighborhood connection 30:08: Why care models must come before business models (COB vs. BOC) 53:31: What licensing the Honeybee model means for scaling sector change  57:53: This is the metric that actually matters: 0% preventable hospital admissions 01:01:06: This is what happens when you remove pan rooms and bed pans — If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738. If you have something you want to say, and are interested in being a guest on Time Well Spent, we want to hear from you - you can find the guest form here: https://timewellspentpod.com/ And if you want to connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast, you can find them on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast

Australia has pulled institutional living out of disability, mental health, and child protection. There are only two places left where we still build institutions: prisons and aged care. In this episode we sit down with Inspector-General of Aged Care, Natalie Siegel-Brown. The new Aged Care Act put words like dignity, agency, and kindness into federal law, a first for this country. But as Natalie puts it, the system we've built can't deliver them, because we've taken a regime designed around compliance and doubled down on it. Low-hanging fruit, she says, is the enemy of reform. From care minutes that mandate institutional care, to the $50 pair of crutches that became an $1,800, three-month ordeal, this is what the red tape is actually costing older Australians, providers, and the budget. Key moments: 00:00: Who Holds the Federal Government Accountable When Aged Care Fails 2:36: Why Beautiful Words in the New Aged Care Act Won't Fix the System Alone 5:26: How "Low-Hanging Fruit" Policy Is Destroying Genuine Reform 6:36: Why Prisons and Aged Care Are Australia’s Last Two Institutions 13:26: How Rigid Care Minutes Penalise Real Human Connection 14:24: How an "Innovation Pathway" Could Unlock Better Models of Care 24:09: What Is Really Driving the 200,000-Person Waitlist at the Front Door of Aged Care 28:23: How Denmark Reduced Nursing Home Admissions by 11% Through Prevention 32:47: How Red Tape Turns $50 Crutches into an $1,800 Bureaucratic Nightmare 45:15: Why Forcing Sicker Pensioners to Pay More Co-Contributions Is Backfiring 54:57: How Public Pressure and Voting Can Drive Real Aged Care Change 56:28: Why First Nations Aged Care Oversight Must Remain Fully Independent — Catch up on our episode with Duncan McKimm on:Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3MYaduHh8TcS1lrSl5hN6s?si=Uqlpgu2vR9-WEZzTTEKoTAApple - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/11-000-nurses-short-the-aged-care-policy-that-cant-be-met/id1842857248?i=1000778593215Youtube - https://youtu.be/CfclAzZz75s?si=uOdXhvUjSwVIwdDy If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.