Aged care centres urged to budget for live entertainment to provide human connection

Corry Ogyden has fond memories of attending bands when she was younger.

These days, Ms Ogyden, a resident at an assisted living facility in Carnegie, Victoria, hangs with a less rowdy crowd.

But she appreciates live entertainment nonetheless.

"I've been to many live bands over the years, including the big stage shows like AC/DC," she said.

"It's very important to have live performers visit us each week, it triggers memories.

"It's also helpful to their [residents'] health and wellbeing, encouraging people to be social."

A performer and an advocate for older Australians want to ensure live entertainment continues to be central to leisure activities for aged care residents and is not replaced with more passive forms of entertainment. 

Ventriloquist speaks out

Ventriloquist Natalie May from Albion Park, NSW has crafted a career making people giggle.

But post-COVID, she has concerns that funding for live performances in aged care residences has diminished, reducing opportunities for the human connection they offer.

Ms May believes live performances are life-changing for residents, and budgets should be allocated to pay performers before the service disappears.

"Residents love the old-school ventriloquism and singing, but nursing homes aren't allocating funding for live entertainment," she said.

"Taking in the puppets and making residents laugh and sing, you can't put a price on that."

Although aged care providers include their budget allocation for lifestyle activities in reports to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, data is not collected on funds allocated specifically to live entertainment.

A department spokesperson said the Australian National Aged Care Classification funding model includes money for entertainment, but it is up to providers to determine how they allocate their funding.

They said requirements were being clarified under the new Aged Care Act 2024 and Aged Care Rules 2025, with a new rule that at least one recreational or social activity each day is not screen-based, television-based or meal-based.

Whether that includes live entertainment will depend upon the provider, who must consult residents and families for feedback, they said.

Laughter is the best medicine

Immersive reality is helping aged care residents in both rehabilitation and recreational ways, but Chris Grice, National Seniors Australia chief executive, is worried live entertainment in nursing homes could become a thing of the past. 

"Obviously, someone's done a good job pitching virtual reality, that it's satisfying or fulfilling needs that residents have," he said.

"But just because it's new, bright and shiny doesn't mean to say it's going to create a better experience.

"You've got to cater for different cohorts within the community, you can't have one size fits all, that shouldn't be what success looks like for entertainment."

Mr Grice said there had to be capacity to have both virtual reality and live performances.

"From a clinical perspective, live performance helps in terms of folks suffering from dementia, it's in the moment and can be adapted to the audience," he said.

"Reducing the service is one of these unintended consequences from COVID-19 and people [are] getting used to it."

Mr Grice said live performances could be adapted to suit and support residents, but advances in technology made it hard to go back to more traditional forms of entertainment. 

Preventing loneliness

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing spokesperson said residents must have access to varied recreational activities that were aimed at preventing loneliness and boredom.

It is something Lifeview aged care facility, where Ms Ogyden lives, takes to heart.

Friday afternoon entertainment is a highlight of the week for the 200 residents at Lifeview, and the centre's events manager Annitta Macauley said human connection was important.

"Happy Hour is the one activity that pretty much every resident attends because it's live entertainment and putting a VR helmet on doesn't cut it, there's no human touch," she said.

The choice of activities is determined by each aged care provider, and live performances can be part of the activity options, but they are not mandatory.

Ms Macauley said budgets were tight, but she insisted on allocating funds for live performances.

"During COVID, many of our entertainers stopped performing; they had no work, so we've had to re-look and go, OK, prices have gone up, but we understand, and our budget will continue to include Happy Hour and live entertainment," she said.

"Spice Girls' music isn't going to trigger memories, but residents love seeing the ventriloquist magic because that was big in their era.

"There's nothing better than a performer working the crowd, the residents are enthralled, and they love it," she said.