A record number of home care packages have been assigned in the past quarter, as the Turnbull Government’s generational aged care reforms accelerate benefits for senior Australians.
"The latest figures indicate home care is now on a positive trajectory, with delivery ramping up at a great rate," said Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt.
"The latest figures show that in the December quarter 50,300 care packages were assigned, over 17,500 more than in the previous quarter. That’s a rate of over 3,800 every week.
"More than 36,000 of these went to people who were new to home care, and almost half of the total went to senior Australians with the highest levels of need."
It is now one year since the Turnbull Government’s landmark Increasing Choice in Home Care reforms were introduced, giving senior Australians personal ownership and control of their home care packages for the first time.
The reforms allow seniors and the Government to track package demand and individual waiting times.
The reforms also allow people to choose their care provider and to take their home care package with them, wherever they live. There are four levels of home care packages, ranging from low to high care.
Minister Wyatt said he was pleased to see the home care allocation system was successfully prioritising the delivery of care to those in the queue for longest and to those with the highest priority needs.
"To give seniors in need support as quickly as possible, we try to provide them with a lower level interim home care package and I continue to encourage people to take up this option," the Minister said.
"In fact, the data shows us there are now almost 46 per cent of people in the queue accessing interim care, including almost everyone who’s been in the queue for 12 months or more."
Minister Wyatt said the Turnbull Government was committed to aged care transparency.
"While indications are that home care package queue growth is slowing, hundreds of thousands of senior Australians are also receiving assistance from the Government’s $5.5 billion investment in the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, as well, the Minister said.
"Like many new reforms, things moved a little slowly at first last year, as senior Australians and their families grew accustomed to the changes.
"With the vast majority of senior Australians wanting to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, home care remains an absolute priority.
"To that end, I will have more to say about further landmark reforms in coming months."
The December Quarter Home Care Packages Program data report is available at www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au ---
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