Older Australians are feeling let down and are rapidly losing confidence in the new aged care system, says OPAN.
One of the largest advocacy groups for aged care and older Australians has called on the federal government to act now as waiting times for Support at Home packages continue to hover around 17 weeks despite the 1 November reforms.
Craig Gear, CEO of the Older Persons Advocacy Network, wants the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to commit to a 10-week maximum time on interim packages now.
Evidence provided by the DoHDA at yesterday’s Senate estimates hearing had revealed a litany of challenges with the sector.
As reported by HSD, 93% of SaH packages released since the program’s commencement on 1 November have been “interim packages”, offering older people only 60% of the services they have been assessed as needing.
Around 113,150 older people are still awaiting an assessment and another 107,281 are waiting for a SaH package allocation, meaning over 220,000 older people are stuck in the system. Many of these are receiving only interim or insufficient supports while their needs escalate.
“These deeply concerning figures are consistent with feedback we are receiving from older people,” Mr Gear said.
“Older people are being let down by the system and losing confidence in it. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect but are instead victims of red tape and bureaucracy.
“We recognise that this significant reform takes time, but the government needs to be more agile to fix pricing reasonableness, transparency and reassessments.
“We are working with the Department and providers to address these concerns, but the pace of reform is far too slow.
“The government must act urgently to overhaul processing times, address pricing levels and transparency this year, and improve the aged care experience by committing to a 10-week maximum time on interim packages now.”
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OPAN’s member independent aged care advocates had reached capacity and were under “significant demand”, taking hundreds of calls from older people every day with concerns about Support at Home. Those concerns rage from price increases, reduction in services, complex service agreements, and interim funding levels with no certainty on when full funding will be available.
“Advocates across OPAN’s national network report feeling exasperated and frustrated by the lack of action to meet the needs of older people waiting to be assessed or who are not receiving the support they deserve to remain independent and stay at home,” said Mr Gear.
“They also report there are limited options to escalate concerns or rectify issues.
“Older people are telling advocates and OPAN that they do feel worse off under the new system – even those who may not be paying more themselves – that they are reporting receiving less services due to price increases.
“The problems also include a lack of transparency and comparability on pricing from providers despite a 7 November 2025 deadline.
“The new Aged Care Act is an exciting new chapter for the sector, but if the basic needs of older people are being ignored and neglected, then the spirit of the reforms is undermined.”
Also of concern are the inner workings of the SaH program’s Integrated Assessment Tool, which generates client assessment classifications determining which level of package they will be offered. Clinical assessors have been forbidden from overriding the algorithm-generated classifications even when the client’s needs are obviously in conflict with the IAT’s ruling.