Community & Business
22 September, 2026
Aged care homes struggling to cope
FACILITIES catering to the region’s elderly residents are struggling to cope with the rising ageing population, with homes reporting they are operating at full or near-full capacity.
FACILITIES catering to the region’s elderly residents are struggling to cope with the rising ageing population, with homes reporting they are operating at full or near-full capacity.
The lack of available aged care beds in the Far North was recently highlighted by the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service which revealed that long-stay patients, which include elderly people or those who need supported accommodation, make up approximately 22-25% of beds across the region.
Despite Carinya Home for the Aged at Atherton having 131 residential aged care beds, it is at full capacity and maintains an active waiting list, according to chief executive officer David Osborne.
“Demand for residential aged care across the region remains overwhelmingly strong,” he said.
“We have seriously investigated opportunities to increase Carinya’s bed numbers and agree that the need will only continue to grow.
“However, the Federal Government’s recently announced 2.55% increase in the AN-ACC (Australian National Aged Care Classification) price is below recent inflation and significant wage and other operational cost increases.
“This raises financial viability of further expansion as the most worrying issue.”
Mr Osborne said while they were “very keen to increase Carinya’s capacity”, confidence had been undermined “by a funding outcome that provides no allowance for provider margin or sector financial sustainability”.
Ageing Australia has labelled changes to the 2026-27 AN-ACC price, which stands at $303.19 per resident per day, as “unacceptable”, saying aged care providers won’t be able to make ends meet, let alone build new beds as a result.
“This is an extremely dis-appointing outcome. It does not reflect the major financial challenges the sector is facing, or the massive increase in costs for fuel and clinical supplies driven by an unpredictable international environment,” Ageing Australia chief executive officer Tom Symondson said.
“62% of residential homes were already losing money and this below inflation increase in funding will make that number go up. The announcement also doesn’t cover the 4.75% increase in wages awarded to aged care staff by the
Fair Work Commission this year, which the sector has been paying without any funding since 1 July.
“It was expected that the annual increase would cover both that unfunded three months as well as the rest of the financial year, but this announcement does not do that.”
Mr Osborne agreed, saying “it is difficult to reconcile their decision, with another stated objective of government to encourage providers to invest in urgently needed additional residential aged care beds”.
“Australia’s ageing population is increasing demand across residential aged care, home care and health services. This challenge is well documented and will require coordinated, long-term planning and sustainable funding involving aged-care providers, hospitals, governments and the broader community.”
Mr Osoborne said Carinya continued to invest in an active building and maintenance program to ensure its facilities remained fit for purpose as residents’ care needs and acuity increased.
“This includes the nearly completed refurbishment and expansion of 52 rooms so they can safely accommodate the equipment, mobility aids and clinical support required to provide contemporary, resident-centred care,” he said.
Respect Mareeba Gardens’ chief executive officer and managing director, Jason Binder, said the situation facing the Tablelands and Mareeba Shire “mirrors a challenge playing out across regional Australia”.
“More people are choosing to retire to and age in communities like Mareeba, and the number of local aged care places hasn’t kept pace with that growth,” he said.
“Respect Mareeba Gardens has 62 beds, including a dedicated 16-bed memory support unit, and like most aged care homes in high-growth regional areas, we operate at very high occupancy.
“This isn’t unique to Mareeba. Nationally, around 3,000 older Australians are currently in hospital because there isn’t an aged care bed available for them, and Australia is building only around 800 new aged care beds a year when roughly 10,000 are needed annually just to keep pace with demand.
“As the oldest baby boomers reach their 80s, that gap is only going to widen.
“We have plans to expand Mareeba Gardens and we understand the pressure regional communities are under, and it’s exactly the kind of challenge that needs to be addressed across Australia.”
