Government struggling to rein in home care waiting list

According to the September-December 2018 Home Care Packages Program Data Report, there were almost 128,000 people people waiting for an appropriate home care package - up 2000 on the previous quarter.

"Appropriate" is the key word here, because Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt was quick to champion the fact that during the December quarter, 29,400 home care packages were released, and "around 97 per cent of all people who were waiting for a package at their approved level ... had already been offered a lower-level package or were approved to access support through the Commonwealth Home Support Program".

Past experience shows many people fear that if they accept a lower level package than they have been approved for, they will end up waiting even longer for their appropriate-level package.

So, politics aside, what does the report say?

As at December 31, 73,978 people were waiting for a home care package at their approved level who had not yet been offered a lower level package. Almost 94 per cent of these had been approved to access support through the Commonwealth Home Support Program.

There were 53,770 people who had already been offered a lower level package. Of these, 29,858 had accepted a lower-level package, 6270 were deciding on whether to take up a package, and 17,642 had not taken up the offer of a lower-level package.

The report said 96,000 of those waiting for a home care package at their approved level also had an approval for a permanent place in a residential aged care facility - a fact described as "frightening" by National Seniors Australia.

"It's a bit frightening to think this number of people are considered in need of nursing home care, but can't even get the home care package they've been approved for," said the organisation's chief advocate Ian Henschke.

"We're wondering just how long the government can let this situation continue."

During the December quarter, 29,400 home care packages were released, averaging 2260 a week.

And since the beginning of this year, the  government has announced a further 30,000 packages will be made available.

Opposition spokesperson for ageing Julie Collins described the wait for home care as an "unfolding crisis".

"In January, the Productivity Commission revealed the median wait time for a home care package has blown out in the last year by more than two months," she said.

"Older Australians are entering residential aged care or even emergency departments instead of receiving their approved home care package.

"Many ... are waiting more than 12 months for the package they have been approved for and some are waiting more than two years."

Mr Henschke said the report showed the government's "drip feed" funding model was failing to reduce the overall waiting list.

While acknowledging the additional funding commitments, he called on the government to provide sufficient funding in the April federal budget to eliminate the level 3 and 4 package waiting list, arguing that a new approach to overall funding was needed.

"The government has no plan for eliminating the overall waiting list, let alone providing much-needed help to those people who need it most - those waiting on level 3 and 4 packages," he said.

"The government can't just keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome."

Mr Henschke said the government, with other key stakeholders, must come up with a solution "and we can't wait for the Royal Commission into Aged Care to finish next year to start thinking about what it is".

Home care providers will be required to publish their pricing information in a new standardised schedule on the My Aged Care website from July 1.

Mr Wyatt said the schedule would help people to understand and compare service offerings and prices and make more informed decisions about which provider is best placed to deliver their care.

He said the move would also help address concerns about high administration costs being charged by some providers, which reduces the amount of funds being spent on actual support.

Providers can publish their pricing information on the schedule from April.

Since November 30 last year, all approved home care providers have been required to publish their existing pricing information through the My Aged Care Service Finder.

However as of March 7, 22 per cent of providers had not done so.

Mr Wyatt said if the department identifies that an approved provider is not meeting its obligations under the Aged Care Act 1997, it can take compliance action which may include the imposition of sanctions.