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Aged care consultant Mark Sewell joins Nicky on this episode of the podcast bringing his wealth of knowledge and insights into the crisis facing the Health Care system due to “bed block”. Bed block is where people are unable to leave the acute care hospital setting due to lack of availability of residential care or not having the supports at home to meet their needs.

Mark steps through the demographic trends, including the arrival of the Baby Boomer generation now reaching their 80’s, that have brought us here. He outlines the systemic issues that have meant we have not managed to keep up with the increased demands for residential care, home modification and home care support services.

Mark and Nicky explore what needs to be done including the need for an additional 1,000 beds in the Illawarra Shoalhaven in the next few years. Additionally Mark explains the importance of a continued focus on increasing accessibility across our community and in our homes, the range of supports currently available and what people who are aging and looking at entering the aged care system can do to plan and prepare for this important life transition we all must face.

Music Credit:

"Jarvic 8" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/