Home Care boost for senior Vics

Seniors in Victoria and New South Wales will receive more support to stay in their homes thanks to a combined funding boost of $57.5 million boost to the Home and Community Care (HACC) Program.

The funding boost brings the total funding provided by the federal and Victorian governments to nearly $545 million annually.

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mr Butler, said the funding would provide domestic assistance, personal care and social support to 275,000 Victorians, helping those complete everyday tasks and retain their independence.

“These are the services older Australians tell me they need to remain independent in their own homes and communities and close to family and friends,” Mr Butler claimed.

“With this latest funding boost, Victorians will receive an estimated extra 400,000 hours of care to remain living at home and stay connected with their community,” he added.

Victorian Minister for Health and Ageing, David Davis, said the state Coalition had contributed $8.8 million to the $21.9 million package.

“This will deliver 66,000 more hours of allied health services such as physiotherapy, podiatry and dietetics, about 34,000 more hours of personal care and an additional 26,000 hours of domestic assistance,” he said.

“The package also delivers more than 162,000 additional hours of social support, which includes one-on-one support for seniors and planned activity groups to keep seniors active and healthy and reduce social isolation.”

Funding is being provided to 456 Victorian organisations including:

• $2,600,000 to the Royal District Nursing Service to expand nursing services in Metropolitan Melbourne.
• $400,000 to Alzheimer’s disease and Related Disorders Association of Victoria to expand the rural hub providing dementia services in Grampians and Barwon regions.

Funding is being provided to more than 290 NSW organisations including:

• $160,000 for enhanced community transport services in the Tweed and Ballina areas.
• $50,000 to Warrigal Care for enhanced personal care services in Kiama, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and Wollongong.
• $1.98 million for Alzheimer’s Australia NSW to implement projects aimed at improving care for people with dementia (Click here to read DPS News’ story on these projects).