Advocacy & Rights
Aged care providers demand urgent home care package release and waitlist overhaul
Advocacy & Rights
Aged care providers demand urgent home care package release and waitlist overhaul
Australian Ageing Agenda · 3 min read · 3 hours ago
Original source
Summarised by Stellar
Key points5 points
- More than 200,000 older Australians are waiting for home care packages or assessments, with 50,000 receiving only partial funding.
- Providers are forced to turn people away or deliver lower-level care due to package rationing, impacting their ability to meet needs.
- The government has not provided a schedule for releasing new packages, making it impossible for providers to forecast demand and allocate resources.
- Ageing Australia is calling for an urgent review of waitlists, wait times, and package values, plus a release of enough packages to clear the backlog.
- Human oversight of the Integrated Assessment Tool is critical to ensure care is tailored to individual needs, as highlighted by the Four Corners episode.
Summary
Ageing Australia CEO Tom Symondson has renewed calls for urgent government action on home care, citing over 200,000 people waiting for packages or assessments and 50,000 receiving only partial funding. He argues that current package values do not reflect actual needs and that providers cannot plan growth without knowing when and where new packages will be released. The May budget's new packages are welcome but insufficient and lack scheduling details. Symondson also stresses the need for human oversight of the Integrated Assessment Tool to ensure care is tailored to individual needs, following the Four Corners investigation.