My Aged Care gets profile boost
The government has launched a campaign to raise awareness of My Aged Care amid ongoing confusion among seniors about the latest reforms.
The government has launched a campaign to raise awareness of My Aged Care amid ongoing confusion among seniors about the latest reforms.
Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt announced an advertising campaign across newspapers, magazines, radio, digital and social media to encourage seniors to start planning for their aged care needs.
“The best place to start is the My Aged Care website and phone line,” Minister Wyatt said.
The campaign would include examples of aged care that older people, depending on their care needs, may be eligible to receive, he said.
Information leaflets will also be made available in 4,820 GP surgeries nationally.
The campaign launch follows confirmation by the Department of Health in Senate estimates that it is revising its communications with seniors as many report they’re confused about how to access home care packages.
Officials told a Senate estimates hearing that a department survey of 500 consumers found many did not understand what they needed to do next to activate their package (read that story here).
Fiona Buffinton, first assistant secretary aged care access and quality, said the department was reviewing its communications to consumers to ensure its letters were easy to understand.
Consumers and community care providers have called for government to ramp up information and support for navigating home care amid concerns packages aren’t being taken up (see our story here).
They say stakeholders have been arguing for a comprehensive and ongoing consumer information campaign for several years.
Minister Wyatt said the new promotional campaign would explain that calling My Aged Care is the first step in taking up any aged care service.
But beyond raising awareness about initial access to the system, providers and consumers argue that a “consumer support platform” is needed to help seniors navigate the system.
Comment below to have your say on this story
Send us your news and tip-offs to editorial@australianageingagenda.com.au
Subscribe to Australian Ageing Agenda magazine and sign up to the AAA newsletter
How about releasing more 3-4 packages in Western Australia?
Many Providers are reporting Waitlist times of around 2 to 4mths .
We are starting to get reports of clients sitting on interim HCP L2 dying before getting access to HCP L4 …..which is the correct level of care thery were originally assessed for!
This is not good enough…..
Anonymous Aged Care Coordinator
Providers don’t have the capacity to provide the services once the My Aged Care Assessment has been completed. My Mum has been on a wait list for over two years now, getting older and has no access to the help she needs to stay living.
No matter how much the promotion, the allocation of packages is defined by Government and the decision to take up services remains with the person and their family. Most people do not want Level 1 and 2 (1 should be scrapped) while some on Level 2 have opted for that in-waiting for Level 3 and 4. The priority should be on planning for future aged care and that planning needs resourcing in community and among the diversity of orgs and communities including libraries, banks, etc. Getting care has a huge impact on finances and therefore financial management is an equally valid education opportunity for both older adults and their family. I trust that the promotion uses a range of media forms and diversity of languages (including Auslan and ‘plain’ English) as well as Aboriginal languages.
One of the very annoying aspects to attempting to phone the general my aged care number us getting an overseas call centre who can’t any basic questions and refer you to the website for more information. The website has less information than the overseas call centre.
Calling MAC from a remote community is extremely difficult – limited access to an appropriate setting to undertake the initial assessment process, limited understanding for the client of questions asked by the MAC contact person, the contact person has limited understanding of the situation the client lives in.
This is incredible I was thinking my mother was the only one having issues with this being approved for a level 4 having signed a contract 2 months later being told she is only funded for a level 2 left owing 1000s of dollars to a provider not getting the care she needs now having the stress of dealing with paying off debt and minimize services till she does so
Many older people are not on line so a website is not helpful for them. If they have no family or others to support them contacting My Aged Care… how do they get over that first hurdle. Likewise in my experience some people are not confident to ring the 1800 number and/or language is a barrier.
So there are significant barriers to the very first steps that older people have to take to get access to services. It’s all very well to say service providers, or other organisations should assist people experiencing barriers, but this an unfunded activity at a time when providers are experiencing significant cost pressures.
What was wrong with the network of social workers in communities that knew the local area and all the providers? It’s not fair to assume older people have access to, or have someone to help with, aged care services and placements. What are our taxes being used for, if all services are now handled by the internet instead of real people???
Another example of the disconnect between reality and the Aged Care Sector Committee’s road map
Aspirational but unrealistic: consumers simply don’t spend time considering their future aged care needs until a catastrophic event forces their hand.
Our government’s aged care policy is being directed by a committee stacked with provider CEOs that show little insight into the actual needs of clients. Any online portal will only be used by the next generation of tech savvy consumers and certainly not by today’s ninety year old who’s just had a major stroke.
The My Aged Care website has been a debacle since its launch…millions spent to make it usable and its still a shocker.
At least give the web development to someone that knows what to do…perhaps google or amazon could build a more intuitive platform. The current tech contractors should go back to their commodore 64’s