New government data has revealed the average wait time for an aged care home place has risen to 356 days. Source: Herald Sun.
That number was for the period up to June 30, and is up from an average of 336 days from the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the average number of days someone waits to get Support at Home services is now 306 days, a drop from 324, from the period ending March 31.
The figures come from Labor’s second data release on wait times following the introduction of the new Aged Care Act, which came into force on November 1, last year.
Some of the data from the first set had been revised.
The figures also show that there are different wait times depending on where people live.
Measuring from the point of applying to getting non-specialist services, those in South Australia and the ACT are waiting the longest (on average 317 days). Queenslanders are waiting on average 305 days, NSW 293 days, Victoria 291 days, Tasmania 289 days and the NT 229 days.
The median wait for an assessment has improved and remains consistently under one month, and the time for in-hospital assessments remains under one day.
Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae said demand for aged care continues to grow.
“What matters to older people is how quickly they can access care – we’re making significant progress in driving these times down, and we’ll continue to invest so every older Australian can access the care they need sooner,” Mr Rae said.
The Coalition yesterday also slammed the Albanese Government for shutting down debate on its proposed legislation to allow people to change the result of an aged care assessment if they think the computer algorithm has got it wrong.
The Coalition’s Aged Care Amendment Bill passed the Senate earlier this year, with only Labor voting against. It was introduced into the House of Representatives yesterday, but was shut down by Labor.
The bill gives qualified assessors the power to exercise professional judgement when the government’s Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) fails to reflect an older Australian’s real care needs.
Coalition senator Anne Ruston, who put the amendment forward after hearing horror stories from around the country, reacted angrily to Labor blocking debate.
She said the assessment tool, which has been criticised as “unsafe” by doctors, was broken.
FULL STORY
Aged care wait times grow as Labor accused of shutting down debate on system fix (By Julie Cross, Herald Sun)
