Australia - 4 May, 2006 -

A GIANT American company that provides services to the lonely, needy and well-heeled elderly is set to take off in Australia, raising questions about the commercialisation of community care. Home Instead Senior Care, a $A14 billion organisation based in Omaha, Nebraska, has set up a franchised office in Brisbane, and plans to have 70 to 90 offices in Australia in the next six years. It operates in 10 countries. This would represent the first big influx of private for-profit businesses in community aged care, an area traditionally dominated by the non-profit sector. Its main role, based on US experience, will be to provide paid companions to isolated elderly people whose adult children are too busy, or live too far away. US surveys revealed that almost half the elderly clients received only one visit or phone call from a relative or friend a week. But at a minimum of $60 for a two-hour service, its carers will also do any task from light housekeeping and meal preparation to recording family history and walking the pets. The owner of the Australian franchise, Martin Warner, a former franchising manager at Pizza Hut Australia, and head of a pizza chain in the United Kingdom, has already met federal ministers to press a case for changing the way home-care services are funded. At the National Community Care conference in Sydney yesterday, he urged the Federal Government to issue elderly people assessed as needing home care with vouchers to enable them to buy services from private or public service providers. At present, government funds go to the organisations that provide services such as meals, home help or personal care at low or no cost to eligible clients. In an interview, Mr Warner said: "Clients should be provided with funds so they can make their own decisions about services. Now clients are restricted to the level of service the Government provides, and the organisation in the local area that provides the care packages." The company's US founders, Paul and Lori Hogan, will visit Australia this month for the launch of the franchise offers, and will meet government officials in Canberra. Michael Fine, associate professor of sociology at Macquarie University, said private elder care could be useful for short-term emergencies. But he said government funds should not be directed to private services. "Good entrepreneurs want to expand business; there is no incentive to wean people off services they no longer need," he said. "And I would be surprised if the Government was so generous as to pay for companions." A new report, The Cost of Caring in Australia, says elder care is set to join child care "as a major issue", with more working women facing the "double whammy" of caring for children and parents. The report, by AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, at the University of Canberra, says paid care services for ageing parents are a feasible substitute for the informal care provided by family and friends.

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