
6 years ago
UNHAPPY SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF LIBERAL GOVERNMENT’S HOME CARE REFORMS
Julie Collins MP
Older Australians won’t be celebrating the anniversary of the introduction of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government’s home care packages with a growing crisis in aged care.
The latest publicly available figures on the waitlist for home care packages show 127,000 older Australians are languishing in limbo waiting for care.
Under the Liberal Government the waitlist has grown from 88,000 to 127,000 older Australians in just over a year.
The Productivity Commission last month revealed the median wait time for a home care package has blown out in the last year by more than two months.
Older Australians are entering residential aged care or even emergency departments instead of receiving their approved home care package.
Many older Australians are waiting more than a year for the package they have been approved for and some are waiting more than two.
We know that the majority of older Australians waiting without care require a higher level package.
Despite this, the Department responsible for home care last week revealed the majority of the new packages announced by the Morrison Government earlier this year are lower level packages.
If the Government is committed to transparency in our aged care system they will release the latest data on the home care package waiting list when it is due later this week.
As the home care waitlist has grown, Scott Morrison and the Liberals have not done enough to fix this crisis. They have been too distracted by dysfunction and division.
Scott Morrison cut $1.2 billion from aged care in his first Budget as Treasurer - backing in his $500 million cut in his first MYEFO.
After five years, three Ministers and years of cuts this Government called a Royal Commission into Aged Care.
Older Australians deserve better and won’t be fooled by Scott Morrison and the Liberals’ chaos, who have done nothing but cut aged care funding for years.
The latest publicly available figures on the waitlist for home care packages show 127,000 older Australians are languishing in limbo waiting for care.
Under the Liberal Government the waitlist has grown from 88,000 to 127,000 older Australians in just over a year.
The Productivity Commission last month revealed the median wait time for a home care package has blown out in the last year by more than two months.
Older Australians are entering residential aged care or even emergency departments instead of receiving their approved home care package.
Many older Australians are waiting more than a year for the package they have been approved for and some are waiting more than two.
We know that the majority of older Australians waiting without care require a higher level package.
Despite this, the Department responsible for home care last week revealed the majority of the new packages announced by the Morrison Government earlier this year are lower level packages.
If the Government is committed to transparency in our aged care system they will release the latest data on the home care package waiting list when it is due later this week.
As the home care waitlist has grown, Scott Morrison and the Liberals have not done enough to fix this crisis. They have been too distracted by dysfunction and division.
Scott Morrison cut $1.2 billion from aged care in his first Budget as Treasurer - backing in his $500 million cut in his first MYEFO.
After five years, three Ministers and years of cuts this Government called a Royal Commission into Aged Care.
Older Australians deserve better and won’t be fooled by Scott Morrison and the Liberals’ chaos, who have done nothing but cut aged care funding for years.