Time Well Spent

Dane Mitchell and Rose Plater

Time Well Spent is a podcast exploring aged care, the NDIS, and health — through candid conversations with executives and thought leaders shaping the industry. Hosted by Dane Mitchell (Optimum Allied Health) and Rose Plater (Paynters), the show is built on authentic conversations. Each 40-60 minute episode asks bold, sometimes controversial, questions about reform, workforce, finance, design, and innovation — opening space for leaders to tell us what they really think about the industry and its future.

  1. 4d ago

    The Aged Care Tsunami is Coming and We Are Completely Unprepared with Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher

    The Aged Care Tsunami is Coming and We Are Completely Unprepared… By 2040, Australia’s population over 85 will double, threatening to trigger a full-blown collapse of the aged care system.  In this episode, we sit down with Simon Kuestenmacher, a leading demographer, columnist, and Co-Founder of The Demographics Group, who is widely recognised as one of the world's top data visualisation influencers. Together, we break down Australia's looming workforce collapse, the critical role of skilled migration, and how technology must bridge the gap before it is too late.  Tune in to understand the hard, data-driven facts of where the nation is heading and why this conversation matters for every worker, family, and business owner today. Key moments: 00:00 Why Australia's Aged Care System Faces Guaranteed Failure by 2040 05:00 How Dementia Data Exposes the Massive Scale of Our Healthcare Crisis 08:25 Why Tasmania Holds the Key to Solving Australia's Ageing Population Problem 10:11 How Red Tape and Bad Data Hold Back Healthcare Innovation 15:00 How Cover My Ass Bureaucracy Is Strangling Government 18:45 Why University Overeducation and Low Wages Are Driving Staff Out of Care 21:54 How Employer-Sponsored Visas Can Fix Australia's Skilled Labour Deficit 25:14 The Truth About Net Overseas Migration and Common Economic Myths 29:30 Why AI and Robotics Won't Magic Away Our Healthcare Workforce Deficit 35:12 Navigating Retirement: The Mental Benefits and the Post-Career Trap 41:20 Why Building Physical Nursing Homes Won't Solve the Demand Surge 48:47 How Modern In-Home Care Models Satisfy What Retirees Actually Want 53:22 How the Shrinking Middle Class Is Threatening Regional Care Access 59:33 The Exact Reforms Needed to Save Australia's Failing Care Sector Connect with Simon on LinkedIn or Instagram. Check out The Demographics Group here https://www.tdgp.com.au/ — If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.  If you have something you want to say, and are interested in being a guest on Time Well Spent, we want to hear from you - you can find the guest form here: https://timewellspentpod.com/ And if you want to connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast, you can find them on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast

    The Aged Care Tsunami is Coming and We Are Completely Unprepared with Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher

  2. Aug 10

    Zero Hospital Admissions Without 24/7 RNs. Reimagining Aged Care

    What if the secret to fixing aged care is stepping completely outside the traditional system?   In this episode, we sit down with Grescha Brewer and Shelly Fletcher from Honeybee Homes, a bold micro-housing initiative in NSW proving that small-scale sharehouses beat rigid institutions every time. Both seasoned registered nurses who spent decades on the frontlines of traditional aged care, Grescha and Shelly got sick of system constraints and have built something better: normal homes where elders actually want to live.  We tackle the hard conversations about what needs to change in Aged Care policy and practice and how micro-sharehouses could be the answer.  Key moments: 00:00: What is a micro-sharehouse in Aged Care 12:57: Why wrapping elders in cotton wool destroys quality of life 15:58: How the 4 Cs care model supports residents all the way to end of life 24:11: How locked doors exacerbate distress in dementia care 25:04: How micro-housing builds true neighborhood connection 30:08: Why care models must come before business models (COB vs. BOC) 53:31: What licensing the Honeybee model means for scaling sector change  57:53: This is the metric that actually matters: 0% preventable hospital admissions 01:01:06: This is what happens when you remove pan rooms and bed pans — If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738. If you have something you want to say, and are interested in being a guest on Time Well Spent, we want to hear from you - you can find the guest form here: https://timewellspentpod.com/ And if you want to connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast, you can find them on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast

    Zero Hospital Admissions Without 24/7 RNs. Reimagining Aged Care

  3. Aug 3

    Aged Care Is Failing Older Australians: Red Tape, Redundancy, and Reform with Inspector General Natalie Siegel-Brown

    Australia has pulled institutional living out of disability, mental health, and child protection. There are only two places left where we still build institutions: prisons and aged care. In this episode we sit down with Inspector-General of Aged Care, Natalie Siegel-Brown. The new Aged Care Act put words like dignity, agency, and kindness into federal law, a first for this country. But as Natalie puts it, the system we've built can't deliver them, because we've taken a regime designed around compliance and doubled down on it. Low-hanging fruit, she says, is the enemy of reform. From care minutes that mandate institutional care, to the $50 pair of crutches that became an $1,800, three-month ordeal, this is what the red tape is actually costing older Australians, providers, and the budget. Key moments: 00:00: Who Holds the Federal Government Accountable When Aged Care Fails 2:36: Why Beautiful Words in the New Aged Care Act Won't Fix the System Alone 5:26: How "Low-Hanging Fruit" Policy Is Destroying Genuine Reform 6:36: Why Prisons and Aged Care Are Australia’s Last Two Institutions 13:26: How Rigid Care Minutes Penalise Real Human Connection 14:24: How an "Innovation Pathway" Could Unlock Better Models of Care 24:09: What Is Really Driving the 200,000-Person Waitlist at the Front Door of Aged Care 28:23: How Denmark Reduced Nursing Home Admissions by 11% Through Prevention 32:47: How Red Tape Turns $50 Crutches into an $1,800 Bureaucratic Nightmare 45:15: Why Forcing Sicker Pensioners to Pay More Co-Contributions Is Backfiring 54:57: How Public Pressure and Voting Can Drive Real Aged Care Change 56:28: Why First Nations Aged Care Oversight Must Remain Fully Independent — Catch up on our episode with Duncan McKimm on:Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3MYaduHh8TcS1lrSl5hN6s?si=Uqlpgu2vR9-WEZzTTEKoTAApple - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/11-000-nurses-short-the-aged-care-policy-that-cant-be-met/id1842857248?i=1000778593215Youtube - https://youtu.be/CfclAzZz75s?si=uOdXhvUjSwVIwdDy If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.

    Aged Care Is Failing Older Australians: Red Tape, Redundancy, and Reform with Inspector General Natalie Siegel-Brown

  4. Jul 27

    11,000 Nurses Short: The Aged Care Policy That Can't Be Met

    Today, Australia is 11,000 registered nurses short. Yet every provider is being held to 44 RN minutes per resident per day, and the government's own modelling says it can't be done. We speak with Duncan McKimm, CEO of Clarence Village, whose facility went from compliant to non-compliant overnight without anything changing on the floor. We talk about why quality indicators haven't moved despite a 30% jump in costs, dignity of risk done properly, and the NDIS playbook for unlocking aged care's political power. As Duncan puts it, we should aim to be vaguely right instead of precisely wrong. Listen now. Key moments: 00:00: Why Australia Doesn’t Have Enough Nurses to Meet Its Own Care-Minute Rules 2:14: How Care-Minute Rules Could Leave Older Australians Without a Bed 12:40: What Aged Care Should Measure Instead of Staff Minutes 19:20: Why Aged Care Is Becoming ‘Precisely Wrong’ 33:56: How Compliance Creates Perfect Documents and Not Perfect Care 42:31: Why Regional Aged Care Is Losing Beds When Demand Is Rising 45:40: Why Support at Home Won’t Solve the Regional Aged Care Crisis 52:25: How Dignity of Risk Lets Older People Keep Living Their Lives 57:01: What Person-Centred Aged Care Actually Looks Like 1:04:22: Why Real Choice Means Letting Older People Take Risks 1:07:56: What Providers Need the Aged Care Minister to Understand 1:11:19: How Communities Can Force Political Change in Aged Care — Find out more about Duncan's Get Better With Age Australia campaign at getbetterwithageaustralia.com.au. Connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.

    11,000 Nurses Short: The Aged Care Policy That Can't Be Met

  5. Jul 20

    Sex & Intimacy in Aged Care: The Conversation Providers Aren't Having (Live Panel at Ageing Australia Conference)

    A 74-year-old was reported for a "new behaviour." It was 60 years new… Live from the Ageing Australia Conference, we’re joined with Melissa Argent from Rockpool and Vicki Cain, dementia specialist with 41 years in the sector, about sex and intimacy as a right under Standard 1, not a risk to manage. We get into where the new Aged Care Act leaves providers exposed, and the tension between naming intimacy as a right while still carrying a mandatory duty to report. Real cases come up throughout. Residents who found love again with advanced dementia, a resident who arranged intimate support near end of life, and the built environment problems most facilities were never designed to solve. Live Q&A included. Key moments: 4:10: How one provider handled two residents who believed they were married 06:28: Who the SIRS report should actually be about 9:18: Why a dying resident planned to book a motel  12:14: The advanced directive most providers haven’t thought through  12:44: The real answer to content in the “gray zone” 17:55: What provides miss when they report “new behaviour” in older residents 21:50: What your building is telling residents about permission 23:31: What a family actually needed when a resident found new love 25:26: What a POA can’t actually override — Connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.

    Sex & Intimacy in Aged Care: The Conversation Providers Aren't Having (Live Panel at Ageing Australia Conference)

  6. Jul 13

    The Resident Who Asked to Go Home: What Happens When a Resident Asks to Leave Aged Care - Derek Tuffield & Resident Greg

    Most providers know what to do when someone wants to come into aged care. Almost nobody has a process for what happens when someone wants to leave. Derek Tuffield, interim CEO of Clifton Aged Care, found that out when a resident, Greg, stopped him in the corridor and asked: "How long do I have to be here?" In today's episode we talk with Derek and resident Greg about what it actually takes to walk a resident back out the door. We get into guardianship, the "stepping stone" thinking, and the gap that leaves people like Greg stuck because no one's built a pathway out. Key moments: 00:00: Why small providers are running out of road 14:54: What the real difference is between Board member to CEO 19:00: One resident's question… “How long do i have to be here” 22:06: How do you build a way out that doesn’t exist yet 34:55: What most managers would have done when someone asks to leave 36:47: What family involvement actually looks like in Guardianship cases — Connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.

    The Resident Who Asked to Go Home: What Happens When a Resident Asks to Leave Aged Care - Derek Tuffield & Resident Greg

  7. Jul 6

    Dear Minister, Here's How to Fix Aged Care: 6 Policy Asks From 9 Months on the Frontline

    We've spent nine months listening to the people actually running aged care in this country. Here's what we'd tell the minister if we had five minutes. In today's episode we distil nine months of guest conversations into six direct policy asks for the Minister for Aged Care, Hon Sam Rae. From letting good operators prove better models of care, to scrapping star ratings and fixing care minutes for good, this is the open letter the sector has been waiting to send.  As it stands, we need a new aged care home every three days for the next 20 years. Last year, we built around 800 beds. The maths doesn't work, and neither does pretending it will fix itself. If you're a provider, board member, or policymaker trying to make sense of where this sector is headed, these are the six changes we believe matter most. Key moments: 00:00: What 9 months of conversations has taught us about the state of Aged Care In Australia 7:37: What a 90% death rate in residential care actually tells us  11:13: Why good operations need a legal way to prove a better model  14:22: Why care minted don’t measure what actually matters 17:06: What a 2025 study found when it tested care minutes against outcomes 26:34: Why CHSP needs to be saved, not scrapped 26:50: What it would actually cost to fund Aged Care properly  36:38: Why the start ratings aren’t relevant  37:40: Dear Minister, do the 6 things and fix the future of Aged Care in Australia — Connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.

    Dear Minister, Here's How to Fix Aged Care: 6 Policy Asks From 9 Months on the Frontline

  8. Jun 29

    "We're Choosing to Underfund Aged Care". The Funding and Legislation Conversation We Keep Putting Off with Mel Argent & Adrian Morgan

    We're choosing to underfund aged care, and as a society, we're choosing to look away. Melissa Argent and Adrian Morgan join us again to dig into why aged care still isn't the election issue it should be. Why we're not short on money but short on the political courage to talk about where it should go. Nothing is off the table: profit, bureaucracy, policy, and the CHSP elephant nobody has a plan for, plus the uncomfortable truth that none of us think about this until it's our own family in the system. Key moments: 00:00 Why is "Profit" treated like a dirty word in Aged Care 10:40 Why are two hospitals full of people with nowhere to go 20:34 How did a $70 million building end up sitting empty 39:40 What happens when the Government only funds 60% of your care 43:38 The conversation no one is having… Why we keep choosing to underfund Aged Care 55:17 Why the industry needs to start telling its own story 55:23 Why are care minutes useless 59:52 How do you eat an elephant? Inside the CHSP's looming deadline 01:16:09 We are not coping. The steps we need to take to fix things — Connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.

    "We're Choosing to Underfund Aged Care". The Funding and Legislation Conversation We Keep Putting Off with Mel Argent & Adrian Morgan
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About

Time Well Spent is a podcast exploring aged care, the NDIS, and health — through candid conversations with executives and thought leaders shaping the industry. Hosted by Dane Mitchell (Optimum Allied Health) and Rose Plater (Paynters), the show is built on authentic conversations. Each 40-60 minute episode asks bold, sometimes controversial, questions about reform, workforce, finance, design, and innovation — opening space for leaders to tell us what they really think about the industry and its future.

Information

  • Creator
    Dane Mitchell and Rose Plater
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Time Well Spent 340448
  • Show Website
    Time Well Spent

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