Over 53,000 consumers were waiting to be assigned a home care package on 30 June, while another 35,000 were on an interim package while they waited for a higher-level package, according to the first report on the Govt’s Home Care Packages Program.
Under home care reforms introduced on 27 February this year, packages are supposed to go to consumers who have the most urgent needs or have been waiting the longest.
In total, more than 47,000 home care packages were assigned between 27 February and 30 June, but 30,371 of these were for Level 2 packages – not the more in-demand Level 3 and 4 packages.
The number of home care consumers has also grown 10.2% from 30 June 2016 to 31 March 2017.
As mentioned above, the Govt has announced another 6,000 ‘new’ Level 3 and 4 packages as part of its response to the Tune review, but these will come from converting unused Level 1 and 2 packages.
They also note that “the original ratios of Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 home care packages were set by the then Labor government, under the Living Longer Living Better initiative.”
In short, don’t blame us.
