Wyatt responds to home care critics

Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt speaks to Community Care Review in his first comments directly addressing reaction to the government’s home care data released last week, revealing that more than one in ten approved for a package are estimated to be living with dementia.

Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt has spoken to Community Care Review in his first comments directly addressing the reaction to home care data released last week, revealing that more than one in ten people approved for a package are estimated to be living with dementia.

The figures, released last Friday, showed the number of people waiting for their appropriate level of home care had increased to more than 108,000.

They showed that at March 31 there were 108,456 people in the national queue, including those on an interim package, a 3.7 per cent increase from 104,602 last December, and that people were continuing to wait 12 months or more for high level packages.

The data also revealed a record number of people in home care, with 77,918 in care at December, up 13.5 per cent from December 2016 and a five per cent increase from September 2017.

Bouquets and brickbats

While many welcomed the fact that more Australians are receiving care at home, concerns were expressed by both providers and consumer groups about the continuing shortage of appropriate level home care packages, as well the 12 month waiting list for those with higher needs.

Dementia Australia also called for information specific to the number of people with dementia who were waiting for care.

On Wednesday Mr Wyatt told Community Care Review that around 12 per cent of people currently approved for home care were living with dementia, based on Dementia Cognition Supplement figures.

He did not specify what proportion were still waiting for their package but said, “depending on assessment of individual needs, people living with dementia may be prioritised to expedite their home care”.

The minister repeated earlier comments that the government had committed $1.6 billion to increase home care packages from current levels of 87,500 to 151,000 by 2022, including 34,000 more high-level packages.

Mr Wyatt did not directly respond to calls by COTA for the government work towards a three month waiting time for home care packages, but said the maximum wait for a level one package was currently between one and three months and that the rollout of more high level packages from July would also reduce wait times.

“The increase in high-level packages aims to reduce wait times, allowing more people to receive support sooner and remain living at home for longer,” he said.

He also pointed out that people approved for a home care package have the option to access services through the CHSP while they wait.

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Tags: community-care-review-slider, cota, dementia, dementia-australia, home-care, home-care-data, Ken Wyatt,

3 thoughts on “Wyatt responds to home care critics

  1. The dementia figures are an under-estimation, as many people who have dementia do not qualify for the dementia and cognition supplement.

  2. Home Care Packages are not the ‘Be All End All’ solution, once the organisation managing the package takes out 30 to 50% in fee’s this leaves about $100 per week for services.

    What the older members of the community need are the services they require to support them to live in the community. I have seen people admitted to Aged Care because their Home Care Package could not pay for a nurse to administer an insulin injection twice a day.

    That right an elderly person is forced into Aged Care because there are no funds to pay the local nursing service to provide an insulin injection twice a day, under the old Victorian or Western Australian HACC system the cost of this would have been paid for by the respective state government but not under the new Commonwealth Home Support Program.

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