Aged care advocates say home care support wait times are ‘misleading’

Key points:

• Anglicare Australia has released a new report, illustrating current barriers that prevent aged care organisations from providing care for older Australians
• Aged care advocates have also raised concerns about the government’s transparency regarding current home care support wait times
• The Australian Government estimates that Support at Home wait times could be as short as three months by July 2027

Advocates for older Australians have raised concerns about the expected waitlist times for the current Home Care Packages, as new data was released recently.

Anglicare Australia’s report outlines significant demands for aged care in the community with funding being a significant barrier to being able to provide appropriate care. As a result, some older people cannot access the in-home support they need and may need to enter residential care earlier than expected.

Australian researchers identified that older people who wait more than six months for home care support are 10 percent more likely to enter residential aged care facilities. 

Recent government data suggests that wait times for a level three Home Care Package can take between nine to 12 months to receive immediate care support as of August 2024. However, this does not include the time between when an application is lodged and when the older person is assessed for home care eligibility. 

After an older person registers with My Aged Care, it can take up to 15 months for services to be provided in their home according to the recent Anglicare Australia report.

Approximately 258,000 older Australians received in-home care services in 2023, with more than 68,100 people approved for a Home Care Package still waiting to access it, as of May 2024. 

Acting Chief Executive Officer of Council on the Ageing Australia Corey Irlam commented that the government may have overestimated the efficiency of reducing waitlist times for the current support at-home programs.

“The figures the Federal Government is using are misleading at best. They don’t include the full waiting period from application to service commencement — only the middle waiting period from the time assessment is completed until a place is allocated to an individual,” he said.

“We’re talking about older people waiting for services, they need to be able to live their life with dignity and in the way they want to. We can’t have a situation where the government is trying to fudge the figures on how long people are having to wait for the support they need.”

However, Minister for Aged Care Minister Anika Wells recently highlighted the expected impact of the Support at Home program, which is set to come into effect from July 1, 2025.

“[…] [This new home care program] will reduce wait times for in home care, with a target of three months by July 2027,” she said.

“Some of the benefits of the $4.3 billion Support at Home package include support for 300,000 more participants in the next 10 years, shorter average wait times from assessment to receive support [and] more tailored support with eight ongoing classifications all the way up to almost $78,000 a year.”

Despite these expected impacts, Anglicare Network organisation employees suggested that other reasons for the delayed delivery of the current Home Support Program include regional challenges and workforce issues.

Around 370,000 aged care workers in Australia are currently employed in direct and indirect roles. However, current estimates suggest that 212,000 full-time worker roles in the aged care industry will be vacant by 2050.

Having enough aged care workers is necessary as 25 percent of the Australian population is expected to be 65 years or older by 2050.

Mr Irlam highlighted that improving the quality of life for older Australians will remain at the forefront of COTA’s concerns regarding the upcoming Support at Home program. 

“Not only will we be pushing the government to ensure it’s not fudging the figures on how long people are actually waiting for care, but we’ll also be calling on the parliament to ensure the new Aged Care Act has a legal requirement for [the] government to publish a full waitlist report making the entire waiting journey transparent from application until your aged care services commence,” he said.

Approximately 17.1 percent of Australians are aged 65 years or older, equating to 4.4 million Australians, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

What are your thoughts on the government’s proposed waitlist times for home care support?

Let the team at Talking Aged Care know on social media. 

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