Shortage of Caregivers
There are simply not enough caregivers, thus, many aged care providers are forced to turn away new seniors in need thereof. With an aging population, the number of caregivers has been consistently outpaced by the increasing need for assistance, giving rise to enormous ethical, social, health, economic, and political problems.
Prohibitively High Costs
Quality care is becoming very expensive, making it unaffordable for many. Institutional care regularly faces long wait-times and can potentially leave seniors and their families destitute. Rising costs, growing national budget deficits and increasing old-age dependency ratios give rise to an increase in the number of seniors lacking access to care.
Poor Quality
With insufficient aged care funding, and decreasing caregiver-to-patient ratios, quality of care has become a root cause for deteriorating conditions of patient health. This ultimately contributes to higher healthcare spending needs, and growing dissatisfaction with the organization of aged care systems.
Caregiver Job Satisfaction
Research shows that the job satisfaction of nursing home staff is not only essential to ensuring quality care, but is also linked with lower rates of resident injuries and higher satisfaction with care. Unfortunately, due to the highly physical and mentally demanding nature of caregiving, the care sector suffers from extraordinarily high levels of absenteeism, and employee turnover rates.
Unsustainable Systems
COVID-19 brought renewed attention to the abject conditions of the aged care sector, which has long suffered from underfunding, understaffing, inconsistent regulations and even inattention. Among seniors and their families, there is a growing “crisis of confidence” in social care, as people are less likely to choose nursing home care, preferring home care instead. This option is often unsustainable, due to high financial costs, and lack of qualified caregivers.
Suffering Families
Due to a lack of alternatives, informal care (unpaid caregiving provided by family) has become a serious economic burden. Research shows that informal care can be expressed in billions of hours expended on unpaid contributions, with an economic impact equaling a significant percentage of a nation’s GDP. Informal care also entails enormous societal costs, including work cessation, reduction of work hours, lost productivity, lost sleep, as well as physical and mental deterioration.
