Home care wait times could be published more often for increased transparency

Home care wait times could be published every three months by the Department of Health and Aged Care after the Coalition renewed its calls for greater transparency in aged care.

The Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells broached the idea at Question Time on Tuesday during the midst of negotiations with the opposition party over the Aged Care Bill. 

Approximately 76,000 Australians are yet to receive the home care package they’ve been assessed for in data made public through recent Senate questioning. 

MyAgedCare data also shows that the wait time for a Level 4 Home Care Package (high care needs) has ballooned to 12-15 months. Meanwhile, some people could be waiting up to a year for their Level 3 package, between 6-9 months for a Level 2 package and even between 3-6 months for basic support under a Level 1 package. 

Minister Wells said the government is open to publishing quarterly wait times and the length of waitlists, although it would be a decision for the Senate rather than herself. 

“Measures that improve transparency and accountability that will give people faith in a new system, we look to support where we can,” she told ABC News.

“[But] that will be a question for my friends in the Senate as they work through each amendment, starting this morning, through the week.”

The Senate is on the home stretch for 2024 with half a dozen sitting days in parliament left. The Labor Government wants to pass the Aged Care Bill before the end of the year and it requires Senate approval after the House of Representatives gave it their support.

However, the Coalition remains steadfast in making final changes to the Bill before it’s approved – rather than after as Labor has suggested at times. 

Although the Bill was approved with no amendments by a Community Affairs Legislation Committee following recent public hearings, the opposition provided 32 recommendations of its own in the same document. 

It is happy regarding the proposed funding models and will not fight for any changes there, but the shadow aged care minister Anne Ruston said there is still work to be done. 

“Having considered all the information that was submitted to the Senate inquiry, it is clear that we are going to need to make substantial amendments to this bill,” she told ABC.

The main sticking point as of right now is that the government is not releasing key details in subordinate legislation fast enough so industry can analyse and understand what is required of them.

Minister Wells told ABC News the government is releasing subordinate legislation as quickly as it could draft it. 

The shadow minister has promised not to rush the Bill through parliament. She reportedly does not intend for it to be unnecessarily delayed either. 

Minor changes have already been made this week after the government announced it would scrap previously proposed caps for cleaning and gardening supports for home care recipients.

Under the initial plan, Support at Home recipients could only access the equivalent of one hour of cleaning per week and up to 90 minutes of gardening services a month.

Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) Director Policy and Systemic Advocacy Samantha Edmonds said this was a sensible decision for the Support at Home program.

“We would like to thank the government for listening to the feedback from older people,” Ms Edmonds said.

“Older people have told us countless times that a cap of 52 hours per annum on cleaning and 18 hours per annum on gardening is woefully inadequate.

“If you are an older person with continence issues, one hour of cleaning a week is simply not enough to keep your home at a hygienic standard. Older people may also require additional gardening for safety reasons, such as fire hazard reduction.”