Older people with life-limiting illness should be able to receive the care they need at home, without their support being constrained by fixed funding and time restrictions, Ageing Australia and Palliative Care Australia (PCA) said today.
The two peak bodies have welcomed a Senate Community Affairs References Committee recommendation to abolish the funding and time restrictions placed on the Support at Home End-of-Life Pathway and develop a flexible, clinically guided, needs-based model for end-of-life care at home.
Ageing Australia and PCA said the recommendation recognises that care at the end of life should be shaped around a person's needs, not arbitrary limits or uncertain predictions about how long they may live.
Ageing Australia
Ageing Australia Chief Member Experience Officer Belinda Allen said older people and their families need certainty, flexibility and practical support when someone is nearing the end of life.
"At the end of life, people and families need care that can respond to their circumstances, not a model that puts arbitrary limits around support," Ms Allen said.
"Access to aged care at home should be based on a person's needs, not a prediction about how long they have left to live.
"Older people who want to remain at home at the end of life should be supported to do so wherever possible, with care that is clinically guided and responsive to their circumstances."
Ms Allen said a more flexible model would also help reduce pressure across the broader health and aged care systems.
"When people cannot access appropriate support at home, they are more likely to experience unnecessary hospital admissions and families are left trying to navigate a system that is not designed around their needs," Ms Allen said.
Palliative Care Australia
Palliative Care Australia National Policy Director Josh Fear said the recommendation was an important step towards fixing a fundamental flaw in the Pathway.
"The current model does not always work because access is tied to a time limit and a prognosis, rather than to a person's care needs," Mr Fear said.
"That is a particular problem for people living with frailty, dementia, neurological conditions and other progressive illnesses, where predicting life expectancy is inherently difficult.
"As long as access to the End-of-Life Pathway depends on whether someone is expected to live less than three months, older Australians with significant unmet palliative care needs will continue to miss out."
The Federal Government recently announced it would, from early 2027, introduce a second round of funding for people who live beyond the initial 12-week funding period. While welcomed as a practical improvement, Mr Fear said the change did not address the underlying problem with the Pathway's design.
"Providing a second round of funding for people who survive longer is a positive step, but it does not fix the core issue," Mr Fear said.
"Some people may still outlive the Pathway's funding, while others may never gain access because their prognosis is uncertain.
"Eligibility should be determined by unmet need, not by asking clinicians to predict exactly how long a person has left to live.
"That is why the sector is developing a clinically guided alternative model that would better identify unmet need and support older Australians to receive the care they need, when they need it.
"We look forward to presenting that model in our submission to the current Senate Inquiry on the broader Support at Home Program, and to working with government on a model that better supports older people, families, providers and clinicians."
Palliative Care Australia will outline the sector's proposed needs-based model in submissions to the Senate inquiry into Support at Home by the 31 July deadline.
About us:
Palliative Care Australia is the national peak body for palliative care.
Ageing Australia is the national organisation representing all providers of aged care and housing to older Australians.
