83,000 Support at Home packages to be delayed in aged care reforms setback
The packages, enabling the elderly to access support to help them stay at their homes and out of the aged care home system, were meant to rollout next month.
NSW
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More than 80,000 desperately needed Support at Home packages – key to helping elderly residents remain in their own houses and out of aged care homes – will be delayed until November, with the Coalition saying the setback will lead to the groaning waiting list ballooning even further.
The 83,000 packages were meant to be rolled out from July 1, but have been caught in delays to Labor’s wider aged care reforms, which now won’t begin until November 1, with the holdup costing the budget $900 million.
The number of Australians on the priority waiting list for their approved home care package has already grown to 82,960 – an increase of 189 per cent compared to June 2023 – according to government data released in February.
The Support at Home model, which can help the elderly stay at home longer by providing services ranging from home cleaning, gardening, transport and home modifications, will replace existing programs such as the Home Care Package scheme.
Coalition spokeswoman for health and aged care Anne Ruston took aim at her counterpart, Labor health Minister Mark Butler, over the accompanying delay to the reform.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the Albanese Government would purposely delay releasing new home care packages into the system, at a time when they have overseen a tripling of the wait list in 18 months alone,” she said.
“They have left almost 83,000 older Australians stuck on the wait list without the critical support they have been assessed as needing … instead of preparing for this additional demand, Labor has overseen skyrocketing wait times that is only going to get worse now that they have delayed the new packages they promised.”
Health Minister Mark Butler said Labor’s reforms would “deliver the most Support At Home Packages ever”, with the rollout of 107,000 over the next two years.
“This will bring down wait times and also increase the number of people to live in their own home to a record 300,000,” he said.
“What the Coalition did at the end of their time in government was put a band aid on a bullet hole … The Coalition let the wait list for home care blow out to three years’ wait in 2019, with more than 129,000 people waiting for care.”
Labor announced last week it would delay the suite of massive aged care reforms for four months, with Mr Butler saying the move “will allow more time for aged care providers to prepare their clients, support their workers and get their systems ready for the changes”.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers last week conceded the move would cost the budget $900m, due to delays to new requirements for wealthier older Australians to pay more for their non-clinical care.
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