GREY TIDINGS

The coming years are going to see more and more Australians enter residential aged care. The new rules coming in July 1 are going to make their need for expert advice - and challenge of providing it - greater than ever. Andrew McKean writes.

- Andrew McKean

Everyone knows that one day the curtains will drop, and they'll die.

Yet, the human mind twists, dodges, and pirouettes around the thought of our demise.

Research published in scientific journal NeuroImage confirms this, revealing our brains instinctively supress awareness of mortality to shield us from profound existential threat.

Perhaps given that residential aged care - accommodation and care at a facility - is often the last stop before the inevitable, it too is subject to avoidance.

In 2016-17, more than two-thirds of Australians aged 50 and over who died had used at least one aged care service in their final two years of life. Among those aged 85 and over, 50% of deaths were in residential care more than in hospitals - according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Additionally, AIHW data from 2021-22 reveals that 86% of exits from permanent residential care were due to death.

Nevertheless, despite aged care often being the inevitable precursor to life's final chapter, many only turn their eye to it when crisis hits.

Alteris Financial Group managing adviser for lifestyle and care Kerri Mendl says that when she first specialised in this field six years ago, people only came knocking when they had no choice but to act.

"It was, 'Hey Kerri, we're in the hospital parking lot, and we've been told Dad's not returning home. We need a solution now.' That was 80%, if not more, of our calls," she says.

Evalesco Financial Services senior financial adviser and aged care specialist Melody Edwards similarly notes that most people seek assistance when a family member is hospitalised and doctors have determined they can't return home.

From there, they'll typically end up in some form of respite care or begin looking for a permanent aged care placement.