$8bn for Melbourne old folks
11 June 2015 by News Desk
Melbourne will need to spend around $8 billion on health care for the aged over the next 15 years to cope with a growing and ageing population.
“Official figures forecast that 24 new aged care facilities need to be built in the city every year, which provides a major opportunity for migrants and skilled workers in the construction and healthcare industries,” says Darrell Todd, CEO of thinkingaustralia.
There are currently 480 aged care facilities providing beds for 35,399 people, in the Melbourne area and an extra 32,252 aged care places will be needed in the region by 2031 at a total cost of $8 billion.
Rosebud and Keilor East are the suburbs with the oldest populations in the greater Melbourne area, the latest figures show. Keilor East has the highest number of people aged 65 to 74, according to a report presented to the Australian Property Council. The suburb, about 16km north-west of Melbourne, also has the highest population of 75 to 84yr-olds.
The area of Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula has more than 1,300 residents aged 85 or over. The average age there is 50 years, 15 years older than people living in the average Melbourne suburb. One in three people is aged over 65.
In the next 15 years, however, the elderly are forecast to move north to live in the semi-rural hamlets of Plenty and Yarrambat where the area is expected to become home to over 10,000 people aged between 65 and 74 by 2031. It will house more than 4000 people aged between 75 and 84 and about 3100 people aged 85 and older.
After Rosebud, the southern and eastern suburbs of Croydon, Bentleigh, McKinnon, Bentleigh East, Highett, Cheltenham, and Brighton were home to the highest numbers of people aged 85 and older in 2013.
The report, titled Aged Care and Retirement Living Developments, predicts that Melbourne will need 24 new aged care facilities each year until 2031.
