The federal government’s assurances providing aged home care was a top priority have been dismissed by a Bega resident, who said people could die while waiting for improved care.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bega District News recently reported on the case of John Allen from Bega, a 79-year-old with multiple health problems who had been forced to wait six to 12 months for improved home care.
After the article was published Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Ken Wyatt AM provided information on the national home care situation.
While he did not comment on the case of Mr Allen specifically, he said senior Australians approved for home care packages but whose health or mobility had changed significantly should seek a reassessment because individual needs were taken into account when prioritising package allocation.
“Although there can be a wait time between when a person is approved for home care package services and when they are assigned a home care package, no senior Australian is expected to wait without services,” Mr Wyatt said.
“While people are waiting for their approved home care package, three-quarters of them are receiving assistance, through lower level packages or the Commonwealth Home Support Program.”
But Eunice Allen, Mr Allen’s wife of 45 years, described the minister’s comments that no senior Australian was expected to wait without services as “a laugh”.
“It’s a waiting game and all I can do is keep hounding everybody I can and push John’s point across as much as I can,” she said.
“There’s other people in the same situation who probably aren’t pushing as hard as I am, but are still entitled to [an improved home care package].”
In February 2017, the government introduced a new home care system, with Mr Wyatt saying the government committed an additional $1.6billion for home care in the recent budget.
“This will take overall home care packages from 87,000 at present to 151,000 over the next four years. This includes 74,000 high level packages,” Mr Wyatt said.
“As part of this, the immediate rollout of an additional 14,000 new high level packages began in July.”
But Ms Allen did not believe the rollout was taking place quickly enough, saying people would die while waiting for the increase in packages over the next four years.
“If we wait four years, will John or me still be alive?” she said.
“Are they waiting for people to die in four years before they approve their package?”
Waiting list increases by thousands
Member for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly said since the first release of data, the waiting list for home care had grown from 88,000 older Australians to more than 121,000.
“Older Australians are entering residential aged care or even emergency departments rather than being able to stay at home and receive the home care they have been approved for,” he said.
Dr Kelly said Labor had been calling the extraordinary growth in the number of older Australians waiting for home care a crisis for a long time.
“The Morrison government has responded to this crisis with obfuscation and a complete lack of transparency,” he said.
“It cannot wait for the royal commission to finish before they start fixing the home care crisis.”
But Mr Wyatt said the first full year of the federal government’s Increasing Choice In Home Care reforms – introduced in February 2017 - showed a 20 per cent surge in senior Australians receiving home care packages.
“While 23,808 senior Australians received home care packages in the June quarter, I expect the benefits of the new budget allocation will now begin to flow across the nation,” he said.
“Our quarterly home care reports and $5billion record aged care budget boost are in stark contrast to Labor, where there was no transparency and little attention to Australians’ home care needs.”
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
