Almost 1,300 older Australians have joined the national home care queue, according to the latest Home Care Packages Program Data Report – the first figures to be released since the Coalition Government was re-elected.
At the end of March 2019, the home care waiting list stood at 129,038 compared to 127,748 in December 2018.
That is 14 new people a day joining the cue and not getting addressed by government.
The release of the report coincided with the Government’s announcement of the 1.4% indexation increase for home and residential care funding (see above story), which both peak bodies LASA and ACSA have spoke out against.
“In home care, a higher hourly wage means that fewer hours of care can be purchased by older Australians if there is not a commensurate increase in the value of packages,” said Sean Rooney.
“The leading industry survey also shows that earnings for home care providers have almost halved in the last two years, putting services under increasing pressure just to stay afloat.”
