Lack of vital services during aged care funding rethink

Older Australians are currently missing out on vital services while the federal government reconsiders its funding model, according to aged care leaders.

Speaking ahead of the National Home Care Conference (30–31 May, Marvel Stadium, Melbourne), South Australia’s Meals on Wheels CEO Sharyn Broer said that the current situation is deeply problematic.

“While older people continue to queue for home care, the government is putting frail older people at risk and unnecessarily driving up health and aged care costs,” she said.

“The only alternative, when a person can’t access basic supports, is family carers, hospital or respite stays — or accepting the risk of falls and further frailty.”

It has now been more than three years since the damning final report of the Aged Care Royal Commission, after which the federal government promised to make funding for a new ‘Support at Home’ program — merging Home Care Packages (HCP), Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) and the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) — its ‘number one priority’.

Preparing to address delegates at the National Home Care Conference, Adrian Morgan, General Manager of Brisbane aged care provider Flexi Care, said that while a system overhaul is essential, there also must be an interim solution for people currently in need.

“The failure to properly fund home supports in the lead-up to the introduction of the Support at Home program is leaving tens of thousands of older people without services they need right now,” he said.

“What that can look like in real terms is people not eating properly because they can’t shop or prepare food for themselves, people compromising their hygiene needs because they’re afraid of falling in the shower, people left isolated and increasingly frail.

“There are significant delays just waiting for an assessment in many parts of the country — for our clients, we’re finding that even getting to that point typically takes three months.”

The latest federal Budget included a decision to reallocate unspent Commonwealth Home Support Program funds to other aged care programs. CHSP is a program that supports over 800,000 older people through services such as Meals on Wheels, community transport and minor home modifications.

Industry leader Paul Sadler said that the government’s home care endgame is too far down the road for those who are vulnerable now.

“It was open to the government to reinvest those dollars back into basic supports for older people via CHSP, but it didn’t. The government has let investment in CHSP slide and many people who could benefit are missing out on services because no new funding is available,” he said.

The government’s Aged Care Taskforce report, delivered last December, predicted an extra 44,000 home care participants would come on to the program each year for the next 20 years and called for increased funding including consumer contributions to meet this need.

“Still, the federal Budget only announced 24,100 additional Home Care Packages — half of what the Aged Care Taskforce stated would be needed each year, and that’s on top of the current 51,000-person waiting list,” Sadler said.

“We were all hoping the Budget would respond to the Aged Care Taskforce report call for a new funding approach, but that just didn’t happen.”

Image credit: iStock.com/sasirin pamai