Aged care royal commission: By the numbers treatment penalises individual

Diana Scott, 76, is one of 100,000 Australians waiting for a higher level of homecare.

Alleyne O'Neill, right, who is trying to navigate the Home Care Package system on behalf of her sister Diana Scott, left. Picture: Simon Bullard

Diana Scott, 76, was always “good with numbers” and showed artistic prowess from a young age.

The former accounts clerk and artist, whose works adorn the walls of her Wollongong flat, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, vascular dementia and was recently told her breast cancer had relapsed.

She is also one of 100,000 Australians waiting for a higher level of homecare; she receives eight hours of homecare a week yet like many elderly Australians, she is in need of much more.

Her sister, Alleyne O’Neill, who has been fighting from the sideline on her behalf, says the nation’s aged-care system is difficult to navigate and not balanced in favour of its users.

“What the care providers have told me is they’ve had customers pass away before the level of care is approved,” she said. “I’m scared of the same happening for Diana.”

 

Ms Scott moved to Wollongong after having a horror experience with a Batemans Bay facility that charged her a 32 per cent admin fee for an hour of cleaning a week and failed to complete its mandatory yearly care review.

Now she faces the issue of not qualifying for an appointment to have her needs reassessed because she still has a small amount of funds in her homecare package.

“My sister’s health has deteriorated further and she needs a higher level of care, but because she has deliberately kept a little money aside for emergencies, she has been told she cannot get an appointment until she uses all of that money up,” Ms O’Neill said.

While she welcomed the recommendation that packages be approved within one month from the date of a person’s assessment, Ms O’Neill said it didn’t specify whether her sister would be processed more quickly under 148 proposals, even if she had residual funds.

Under the current system, Ms Scott faces a 12-18 month wait.

“The government shouldn’t be penalising my sister for deliberately keeping funds for a ‘just in case situation’, they should be thanking her.”