My Aged Care website: Exorbitant aged care fees raise questions

The My Aged Care website is a minefield of mistakes, with some homes reportedly spending just four cents per day on food per resident if the data is to be believed.

Exclusive: The main tool elderly people and their relatives have to navigate the aged care system is so riddled with errors and mistakes consumers who rely on it will be misled.

The government-run My Aged Care website received a major upgrade on February 29 when for the first time it began providing information on how much aged care services are spending on their care, food, wages and more.

Yet an investigation has found the site claimed one home was charging a $22 million Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) when in fact the true figure was $2.2 million.

Another home was said to charge a RAD of $5.25 million, when in fact it was just $525,000.

Some homes are recorded on the website as spending just four cents per resident per day on food.

The My Aged Care website shows Hillside at Figtree, NSW, spent $323 per resident per day or $114,988 per resident per year on administration costs – 625 per cent above average.

When contacted, the home said this figure was wrong but it has yet to provide an accurate sum and weeks after we approached them, no correction has been made.

My Aged Care shows Hopetoun Nursing Home in Victoria spends $1184 per resident per day including $241.28 per resident per day on administration (441 per cent above average), $153 per day on cleaning and laundry (419 per cent above average) and $145.34 per day on food (294 per cent above average).

News Corp contacted the home to check if the data was correct it said it was “unable to provide a response”.

Aged Care minister Anika Wells has tried to improve information on aged care but nursing homes can’t get it right.

The information on the My Aged Care website is drawn from quarterly and annual financial reports provided by aged care homes which are legal obligations under the Aged Care Act.

Each report must be signed by a director of the body corporate or a member of the provider’s governing body if they are a for-profit or not-for-profit provider.

Homes are given multiple opportunities to review the information before it is published on the website.

Despite the errors, the Department of Health and Aged Care is understood not to be taking action against providers who supply false information and instead trying to “educate” them to do better.

Services that record spending less than $10 per resident per day on food and ingredients are referred to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

Even though many homes charge massive fees, many are still failing to achieve government standards of 200 care hours per resident despite the federal government providing $11 billion to fund a 15 per cent pay rise for carers.

And the nurses union says it is unfathomable that homes that fail the 200 minutes of care per day standard are still given a four star rating on the My Aged Care website.

Annie Butler federal secretary Australia Nursing and Midwifery Federation Picture: Rob Leeson.

“What we see constantly on the ground is manipulation of the care minutes,” Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation president Annie Butler said.

“We’ve seen laundry workers have their position descriptions include some kind of personal care work so they can count them in the care minutes even though they’re not properly qualified to do it.

“We need to have better enforcement and compliance mechanisms.”

The Department aims to be assessing the accuracy of all residential aged care providers claims about care minutes by April 2025.

Aged Care minister Anika Wells was contacted for comment.

Originally published as My Aged Care website: Exorbitant aged care fees raise questions