Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt touted the fact that over 50,000 packages were ‘approved’ in the December quarter – 17,500 more than in the previous quarter – according to the latest data report on the Government’s Home Care Packages.
‘Approved’ means the clients has been assessed to need a home care package and can enter the system. It does not mean that they get an immediate service; they have to join the queue.
The Minister did acknowledge “things moved a little slowly at first last year” and looking at the data, we would say that’s an understatement.
The national queue has now stretched to over 104,000; around 28,000 (27%) consumers have been waiting over a year for a Level four package.
There were also around 11,200 new ‘entries’ to home care – people actually receiving services – in the September 2017 quarter. But there were also 8,500 exits – that means only 2,700 real new clients in three months.
While there were over 31,000 consumers approved for home care in the December 2017 quarter, there were only 74,000 consumers actually in a home care package as of 30 September 2017 – an increase of just 3.9% since June 2017.
Over two-thirds (68.5%) of those existing packages are for lower Level two packages. Most demand however is for the higher level three and four packages. In the December data, Level 4 packages were most in demand, making up 36.7% of approvals.
The Minister says that home care remains an “absolute priority”. “To that end, I will have more to say about further landmark reforms in coming months,” he said.
Will it involve getting people into packages and keeping them there?
At least CDC has done what it promised and opened up more competition among providers.
The data shows there were 806 approved home care providers with a home care service, an increase of 5.2% since 30 September 2017 and a huge jump of 52.9% since 31 December 2016.
