Ian Yates, chief executive of Council on the Ageing (COTA), has called for an increase in staffing levels and the amount of home care packages available.
Mr Yates told Fairfax as many as 100,000 people were waiting as long as 18 months for home care, which was forcing many Australians into residential care prematurely.
“The number one priority is increasing home care,” he said.
“Many thousands of people die while waiting. The government should fund home care packages to ensure no one waits more than a month to get it and that would cost $2.5 billion a year.”
Mr Yates said in addition to staffing numbers, skills training would also need to improve.
“We are going to have to spent billions of dollars more on staffing,” he said.
