A Senate inquiry into the delayed aged care scheme has sounded the alarm on the potentially fatal consequences of what it has labelled a “calculated denial” of services, as more than 200,000 elderly Australians remain on waiting lists. Source: The Guardian.
The majority report of the Greens-chaired inquiry, released on Wednesday, said the system should be demand-driven, as recommended by the aged care royal commission, instead of offering elderly Australians a limited number of places.
The new system, which will begin funding its first 20,000 packages this month, provides elderly Australians with in-home care and services, such as cleaning, bathing, feeding, taking medications and transport, as demand for aged care services is expected to surge in the coming decades.
About 122,000 people are waiting for an assessment, while 109,000 are waiting for a package, the federal Government confirmed in August.
“[The royal commission] explicitly warned against ‘rationing’ care, where only a limited pool of government money is set aside for aged care and once spent, people either miss out or have to wait to get access to care,” the report warned.
“The calculated denial of service through waiting lists, and the rationing of care through the periodic release of packages, leads to significant and life-altering consequences for older Australians. These consequences can be fatal.”
Originally slated to begin in July before being delayed to November, demand for the aged-care support program has outstripped the Government’s offering.
It said 83,000 home care packages will be released by July 2026, with 40,000 of those to be offered by the end of the year.
The inquiry’s chair, Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne, said while the committee – which included three Liberal and two Labor senators – agreed on ending aged care shortages, Labor had “voted to continue deliberately rationing the availability of aged care each year”.
The Labor senators on the committee, Dorinda Cox and Michelle Ananda-Rajah, said they were “disappointed” with the chair’s report and did not accept its recommendations.
Catholic Health Australia director of aged and community care Alex Lynch said CHA welcomed the opportunity to appear before the inquiry and noted the inquiry’s main goal to have more home care packages released by the Government has been achieved.
“The decision to reduce care management increases the risks of unplanned hospitalisations and earlier than necessary entry into residential aged care. Catholic providers continue to advocate for care management to be restored to meet the goal of supporting people to age in their own homes.”
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Aged care waiting lists a ‘calculated denial of services’ that could be fatal, Senate inquiry warns (By Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian)
