Call to divert nursing home money

There are calls for the Federal Government to divert funding from traditional nursing home accommodation to at-home care.

A Tasmanian aged care provider says the Government is failing to recognise the growing trend for elderly people to stay in their own homes.
Rod Hunt from St Ann's Homes says the Government rejected its bid to swap 70 unused nursing home bed licences for community care packages to allow elderly people to stay at home.
"We had over 140 people come back to us and say we want an aged care package, we went back to the government but again they've rejected that application."
Community Services Minister Julie Collins says the need for more traditional nursing home beds can not be questioned.
"We know that the number of people aged over 80 will double in the next 20 years so we need to make sure that the facilities are available."
She says Tasmania has received many community care package allocations.
"The Federal Government has invested very heavily in terms of packages for people to stay in their own homes."
"We brought forward a whole range of packages in the past for Tasmania because there was a need, a large need for those at that time, so we did that to accommodate Tasmanians.
"We have our share of those now, proportionally, compared to the rest of the country and we'll have more to say in the future."
The Government will respond to a Productivity Commission report on aged care later in the year.
Source http://www.abc.net.au/