Wait list for care at home barely budges

The waiting list for home care packages dropped by just a couple of thousand over the first half of 2020 despite a royal commission last October.

‘The tragic failure of the Morrison government to not better protect older Australians in aged-care homes from COVID-19 will only mean more people choose to receive care at home’: Aged Care spokeswoman Julie Collins.

The waiting list for home care packages dropped by just a couple of thousand over the first half of 2020 despite a royal commission recommending in October 2019 the federal government take ­urgent action to address the ­backlog.

The latest Department of Health data shows there were 102,081 Australians waiting for a home care package at their ­approved level as at June 30 — down from 104,473 on December 31 last year.

Labor seized on the figures on Monday to declare the Morrison government had failed the elderly amid criticism levelled at the government over its handling of the coronavirus in aged-care homes, where 683 Australians have died.

Opposition aged-care spokeswoman Julie Collins said the “inaction” was unacceptable.

“The tragic failure of the Morrison government to not better protect older Australians in aged-care homes from COVID-19 will only mean more people choose to receive care at home,” she said. “But the home care packages announced in the budget won’t fix the lengthy waiting list. There were over 100,000 older Australians waiting for care when the royal commission called for ­action a year ago and there are still over 100,000 waiting today.”

On budget night this month the federal government announced it would spend $1.6bn on 23,000 more home care packages to support ageing Australians to live longer in their own homes, but would wait until the 2021 budget to overhaul the system.

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck told The Australian the latest departmental advice was that waiting list numbers were continuing to fall.

“The latest published home care data does not reflect the 6105 allocated as part of an investment announced in June which started being released in July 2020,” he said. “It also does not reflect the additional 23,000 home care packages made available under the 2020-21 budget that will start being released from November.”

He said the additional packages would ensure the total number of increases from 155,625 on June 20, 2019, to 185,597 by June 30, 2021.

In a 500-page submission to the aged care royal commission from counsel assisting Peter Rozen QC and Peter Gray QC last week, the pair argued for a fundamental redesign of the system. Among the 124 recommendations were calls to support older Australians’ preference to stay in their own homes as they age and for the backlog in providing home care packages to be cleared by the end of next year.

“The vast majority of people that need care will want to receive it in their own home,” Mr Gray said. “It is a powerful message and one that we have heard.”