Most people who have been approved for a home care package in recent months will have to wait more than a year to be allocated a package, according to updated information on My Aged Care.
While the Department is yet to release data about the national queue for home care packages – despite committing to providing the information two months ago – figures from 2015 published in the legislative review show almost 90,000 people were unable to access home care packages, including 68,000 with high need.
Labor has called on the Government to release updated data urgently, with Senator Helen Polley and Shadow Minister for Ageing, Julie Collins, issuing a joint media release describing the lack of transparency “shocking and simply unacceptable”.
“It also raises questions about why the Government has taken so long to act when the Review shows it has been a growing problem for some time,” they said.
Earlier this month Leading Age Services Australia CEO Sean Rooney wrote to the Prime Minister, Ministers Wyatt, Tudge and Hunt and the Departments of Health and Human Services outlining 17 issues relating to the implementation of the home care reforms.
The three main areas of concern following member input and consultation with the other industry peaks were:
- Low consumer activation rates of home care packages
- Barriers to consumer access to home care package activation
- Accumulation of unpaid subsidies for home care package providers.
LASA’s full submission is available here.
