Evidence at the Greens-led Senate inquiry into the Government's delayed aged care changes have revealed the shocking state of the Home Care Package waitlist is much longer than previously thought.
Department officials also revealed that zero new aged care packages have been released since 1 July, contrary to the Minister for Aged Care Sam Rae's claims this week.
Waitlist blowout
Department officials made available new data revealing 121,596 people as at the end of July are awaiting an ACAT assessment. The official waitlist of people already in receipt of a Home Care Package shows over 87,000 people are waiting for care for which they have been assessed. [1]
This suggests that the effective total number of people awaiting home care is already over 200,000 long.
The waitlist is only growing thanks to the Government's delays on aged care from 1 July to 1 November.
Zero new packages since 1 July
Under questioning from Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Department officials also revealed that there have been no new packages released since 1 July.
Labor have been defending the delay by saying that they've been releasing more than 2700 packages a week [3]
The Government has been under intense pressure over the growing waitlist, and a majority of Senators have signalled their intention to use the passage of enabling Aged Care legislation through the Senate to force the Government to address the blow out in the delay.
The inquiry on Friday heard that there is universal agreement among providers and independent experts that the overall delay in aged care reforms to 1 November is prudent, but there is no reason the government could not release additional home care packages now.
Officially, wait times for medium priority packages are 9-12 months from assessment, including for the highest "Level 4" level of care.
The Greens were the only senators to oppose the original Aged Care Bill 2024, with both major parties and the rest of the crossbench supporting its passage.
As stated by Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens Spokesperson for Older People and Chair of the Inquiry:
"The Greens are calling on Labor to urgently release enough home care packages for everyone who needs one, and they could do it this week in the Senate."
"There is literally no reason why the Government cannot release more packages aside from stubbornness by a Minister who is out of his depth, and a Labor party that can never admit when they're wrong.
"Minister Rae has misled older people when he says he has been releasing packages each week. Today it was revealed that no new packages have been released since June."
"Under this system you have to wait for someone else to die or move into residential aged care before you can get support at home. It's unconscionable.
"The wait list for home care has exploded out to 200,000, a figure that the Government was desperate to hide. The minister must front up, release more packages, and explain himself.
"Older people are not commodities, they must be treated with respect, dignity and care, but this system resembles a cattle yard with an indifferent Minister at the gate.
"As the Royal Commission said, the financialisation of aged care has been a disaster. We must build an aged care system that is actually about delivering the care that is needed, when it is needed."
References
[1] From the inquiry:
4:42pm: Joan Blackwood, assistant secretary, accessing homes division. The data we have given you is from the date that the referral is issued to the date that the support claim is completed for the relevant individual. Thank you. I can also speak to the point around the number of people waiting for an aged care assessment. I do have some data available, if that would be helpful. So as at the end of July, we have a couple of ways that we track this. One is total assessments on hand that are outside the recommended KPI markers for assessments, and one is total assessments on hand. The second number is 121,596 people.
[2] From the inquiry, approx 4:45pm:
Senator Allman-Payne: Is this actually a new supplier packages or is this the recycling of packages from people who no longer need them?
Department: Thank you Senator, it is the latter and I believe the minister has been clear about that in his public commentary as well.
[...]
Senator Allman-Payne: Okay. So I'd just want to make sure, we have got an ageing population, we got more people in need of care every week and a growing waitlist but there hasn't been an increase in the overall number of packages that have been released at this point, we are just seeing packages recycling through the system.
Department: Yes.
[3] (Sky News, 27 August:)
RAE: We are rolling out packages every single week. The average since September last year is 2700 packages a week.
GILBERT: So it hasn't dried up completely?
RAE: No. The average was 2700. Up until November, we'll continue to roll out on average above 2000 packages every single week.
