Under John Allen’s current plan, the 79-year-old is only eligible for six hours of care a week, which his wife Eunice said was simply not enough time to leave him with a carer so she could complete all the tasks that needed to be done to support them both. 

“You just don’t have time to do everything a housewife does then look after John at the same time,” she said. 

“It’s exhausting. I get broken sleep because I have to get up at night to look after him. Then you still have to do the washing and cooking that you’d normally do.”

Mr Allen’s health troubles began in December last year when he had a heart attack, which resulted in him requiring a double bypass.

He then had a stroke on Christmas Day, which caused a bleed on the right side of his brain, then later got pneumonia. 

As he recovered, it was discovered he had short-term memory loss, needed to learn to walk again and still has difficulty moving – he has needed to install safety rails around his house. 

It has been particularly devastating for Mr Allen as he has been a guitarist since 1958, but now has trouble forming chords with his left hand. 

“I can get them slowly, but not anywhere near what I used to be. I played it for so long,” he said. 

Mr Allen is now on a home support program from which he gets six hours of care per week for a nurse to visit him at his home, shower, dress and care for him while Ms Allen goes out to do chores. 

But he said six hours was not enough as he wanted to make life easier for his wife, whom he described as a “very intelligent” person. 

In May, he was assessed by the Southern NSW Local Health District’s ACAT aged care assessment team as eligible for home care package level four – the highest level available. 

However, early in October Ms Allen said they were told he has to wait six to 12 months in order to receive the package, which would provide a nurse for 10 to 12 hours per week. 

Ms Allen wanted to speak out about the issue as she wanted “to make it known people are desperate for help”. 

The waiting list for home care packages has been heading towards 120,000 nationally, according to Member for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly.

This included more than 88,000 older Australians waiting with high needs, many with dementia.

“As the list grows longer and longer, fresh stories emerge daily of older Australians who are waiting years for home care - earlier this year I held an aged care community forum in Merimbula and over 50 people turned up to complain,” Dr Kelly said. 

“The government needs to apologise for over promising and under delivering to older Australians who are waiting years for the care they need." 

Member for Bega Andrew Constance said he had had contact with John and Eunice Allen of Bega.

As a result, the aged care team had gotten in contact to get more information on their case.