Some respite for older Australians is incoming as the Australian Government works towards a new Support at Home program for older Australians, with 20,000 home care packages released to relieve delays in providing appropriate care to those who need it.
The decision was made in the wake of a Senate inquiry recently revealing that 87,000 are waiting close to a year to receive packages they have been approved for and over 120,000 more are still waiting to be assessed.
Delays to home care packages are nothing new in the Outer East, with Casey MP Aaron Violi having previously drawn attention to delays multiple of his constituents were facing in Parliament in June 2024.
Mr Violi said this is welcome news for many families in our community, who sacrifice their time to support their aging loved ones whilst waiting years and years for a home care package
“Home care packages are vitally important for our aging community and their families, because they support people to receive the care they need in their home,” he said.
“Tragically, almost 5,000 older Australians died in the past year while waiting for care, which highlights the need for the government to do more to get this right,”
“I have spoken on the importance of supporting our older residents and their families to ensure they get the care that they need and deserve, in the last parliament, I raised local voices and shared local stories around the real challenges our community was and is continuing to face.”
Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler and Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae announced the release at a press conference on Wednesday 3 September following pressure from a combination of Coalition, Greens and independents to address the backlog prior to the deferred Aged Care Act coming into force from 1 November.
Mr Butler said there have been good, constructive discussions with Liberal Senator Anne Ruston to ensure they configure the 83,000 home care packages funded in the first 12 months of the upcoming new system to meet the views of the two major parties and advocacy groups.
“I’m pleased to announce we’ve reached a position where we can support the position of Senator Ruston in the Senate when it comes to a vote over the course of today… we will be supporting the position that Senator Ruston has outlined,” he said.
“That will mean there will be 20,000 additional Home Care Packages released between now and the end of October, which is the last time, the last date before the new aged care system comes into effect,”
“From the 1st of November, the start date of the new aged care system, until the 31st of December, there will be an additional 20,000 Support at Home packages put into the system and in the first 6 months of next year, the remaining 43,000 of Labor’s Support at Home packages will be put into the market.”
The Aged Care Act was initially intended to take effect from 1 July this year but was deferred to give service providers in the sector more time to prepare for the overhaul.
Independent Indi MP Dr Helen Haines was one of the advocates for action and said this was a win for older Australians and showed the impact of the crossbench in the interests of the nation.
“I think we have seen a victory today that will bring practical relief to 20,000 people waiting for a home care package,” she said.
“The government had consistently rejected calls from the crossbench and peak bodies to release more packages that would help hold the waitlist steady, I’m pleased that today the government has seen sense.”
“The fact is that the waitlist for home care is getting longer, not shorter, and this is the last thing older persons and their families need – more delays and more uncertainty when they were promised the opposite from this government,” she had said in her speech in Parliament on Monday 1 September.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing was contacted for comment.
A number of advocacy bodies for older Australians and the aged care sector have also come out to welcome the announcement.
Ageing Australia CEO Tom Symondson said they congratulate the Government on heading our calls, with so many Australians waiting for care in their own homes.
“We give our sincere thanks to Senator Anne Ruston and Senator David Pocock and all sides of politics for their dedication championing the needs of older Australians,” he said.
“Providers are ready to act immediately and deliver more packages across Australia, as we heard recently, 98 per cent of members tell us they have the capacity and are ready to go,”
“This is the start of the long road to getting people off wait-lists and getting the care they need.”
The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) highlighted the severe risks of leaving older people without appropriate care.
OPAN Director of Policy, Education and Systemic Advocacy Samantha Edmonds said the announcement is a positive step, but more work must be done to protect and safeguard the interest of older people.
“Inadequate in-home care support can push older people into hospital and prematurely into residential aged care, which is unfair and avoidable,” she said.
“Once an older person has been approved for the appropriate level of in-home support, they typically wait another 12 months to receive it, untenable delays such as these put older people at significant risk of adverse outcomes, older people should not have to wait more than 30 days for in home support,”
“These delays have an adverse impact on a person’s dignity and wellbeing, we have a shared responsibility to alleviate this challenge.”
