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There are four levels of care in the Home Care Packages Program, the scheme that older Australians can apply to access, ranging from basic to high-level care.
It’s designed to provide escalating levels of assistance with things like cleaning, medication, personal care, and errands.
9News asked the Department for Health and Aged Care for figures relating to the size of the waiting list to join the program, the average waiting time, and how many people were not accepted into the system including how many died or entered residential care.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws revealed between July 1, 2017, and December 31, 2021, 50,496 older Australians died while waiting to have their claims approved.
Some families have told 9News they were sent letters about having an application finally approved months after their loved one had passed away.
Over the same 4.5-year period, 57,892 people who were still waiting for assistance had to opt to go into permanent residential care instead.
The average wait-time is now down to between three and six months, but this time last year it was six to nine months.
When Simone O’Malveney applied for funding for her ill father in 2019, they faced a wait for approval and then for the money to arrive.
“When Dad was very ill in 2019… we were (saying), ‘Wow, we need help now,'” she told 9News.
“He was assessed at (highest level) four pretty much straight away.
“Then the funding didn’t come through… ’til 2021.
“If we hadn’t been in Sydney, with extended family helping us, I don’t know how we would have got through it.”
Her father Ashley Schwarz has a range of serious health conditions, including vascular dementia and long-term diabetes.
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But he didn’t want to go into care, preferring to be self-reliant.
“It’s very important to me (to stay in my home) because I prefer it,” he said.
“I don’t have to learn new things. I got accustomed to how things are.”
O’Malveney added: “He saw his elderly relatives going into nursing homes … when he was younger – and he’s not happy about it.”
It’s a common experience, according to Craig Gear, chief executive of the Older Persons Advocacy Network.
“Older people tell us that they want to stay in their homes – they want to stay independent for as long as possible,” Gear said.
There have been steady improvements but it’s not enough.
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“While we’re seeing more packages come into the system, they’re still not adequate and no-one should have to wait more than four weeks for the appropriate level of care,” Gear said.
“Older people should be expecting that the care that they need should be available when they need it.”
He has also pointed to staffing shortages as a serious issue.
“One of the biggest challenges is the availability of a highly skilled passionate workforce. We need initiatives to get people into the workforce,” Gear said.
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells told 9News in a statement from her department:
- People with an urgent need for a Home Care Package (HCP), assessed as a high priority, are currently being assigned their approved level HCP within one month
- People with a medium priority are currently being assigned their approved level HCP within three-six months
- The government is committed to meeting the preferences of older Australians to age in place and more quickly access the support they are assessed as needing
- The rate of people dying while waiting for a HCP is proportionate to the death rate in the Australian aged population
- People waiting for a HCP may also be approved to access other aged care programs such as the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, Short-Term Restorative Care Programme and the Transition Care Programme, to ensure their care needs are addressed while they wait for a package
