Elderly Australians requiring home care experience longer wait times

The number of older Australians waiting for government-funded in-home care has more than doubled to 68,109 over the past 12 months. The Retirement Living Council has warned that unless the government acts, the situation will only get worse.

The federal government’s home care package provides support with showering, cleaning, cooking, and other basic needs, allowing people to delay or avoid moving into full-time residential care. Taxpayers currently pay 75 percent of residential care costs and 95 percent of in-home care costs.

Entitlements for in-home care range from $10,000 to $59,000 per year, with each person assessed on the daily fees they can contribute to the care.

Different Care Packages Available

Officials at Senate estimates revealed that as of May 31, 117 people were waiting for level one assistance, 17,611 for level two, 36,524 for level three, and 13,857 for level four. There are 4 levels of home care packages—from level 1 for basic care needs to level 4 for high care needs.

Those currently waiting for level-three assistance face wait times of nine to 12 months, while those seeking a level-four package will wait six to nine months.

And those already receiving support are waiting for extra help as their circumstances change.

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“We have seen a deterioration of access, particularly in the last six months,” admitted the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Assistant Secretary for Home Support Operations Russell Herald.

He said he could not provide definite reasons for the recent surge in demand but added: “If I was a betting man I would link the increased demand to the cost of living, so just taking that little bit of pressure off. If you look at the data and growth in referrals, the lions’ share appears to be in domestic assistance so your cleaning etc. They tend to be more of your lower-end needs clients.”

The CEO of the Council on the Ageing, Patricia Sparrow, said she was “really concerned” that demand had gone so much in such a short period of time. “They’re such critical services for people who are at home, they can actually stop someone from going into residential care at all, or delay that moment, and let them be as independent as they can be,” she said.

“There is no doubt that there’s a growing number of older people who need support. And as an aged care service system, we need to come to terms with that and make sure that the investment in aged care is right.”

More Funding Needed, Providers Say

Tom Symondson, the CEO of the Aged and Community Care Providers’ Association (ACCPA), said economic pressures may be a factor.

“We have a cost of living crisis, which means there are people who potentially could fund their own services privately, who are now probably thinking they can’t do that anymore, so they’re applying for packages they might not previously have felt they needed,” he explained. The Association wants to see the government introduce funding for even more in-home care packages.

The 2024/25 budget set aside funding for an additional 24,100 home care packages, but the government is being urged to reform the system to reduce delays as the waiting list grows.

“The aged care system is breaking under the weight of ever-increasing demand,” Retirement Living Council Executive Director Daniel Gannon said. “Year-on-year growth in demand for services, coupled with a reduction in the number of home care providers, has created a situation where older Australians are waiting up to a year to receive urgent support so they can continue to live safely at home.”

The Council wants the government to adopt a shared care framework in which retirement village operators deliver care services within a village setting, independently or through a delivery partner.

Mr. Gannon said this would make the delivery of home care more efficient by reducing service providers’ travel costs and increasing the frequency of delivery.

Officials told the Senate the Department hopes to use the extra funding in the budget to reduce wait times to six months for packages at any level.