Both the Federal Government’s Home Care Packages (HCP) program and Commonwealth Home Support Services program are “desperately in need of review and increased funding if they are going to meet the demands of the ageing population”, aged care consultant Bina Brown writes in the piece.
Around 104,000 people are currently in the national home care queue, with half receiving services at levels below what they have been assessed for.
In the story, COTA Australia CEO Ian Yates is quoted as saying he wants to see 20,000-25,000 new high-level packages released over the next 12 months to bring the existing 80,000 packages up to 120,000.
The government is only targeting 140,000 HCPs by June 30, 2022.
The aged care peak bodies have been lobbying the Government for more funding to address the shortage.
“The other key issue is that the distribution of HCPs across levels 1-4 is wrong. There need to be a lot more level three and level four HCPs. Level ones are hardly worth having out there,” Mr Yates adds.
The COTA CEO recently appeared at our LEADERS SUMMIT advising village and aged care providers on how to work with government.
He says politics is all about perception. “Politicians already know about the problems – they are interested in solutions.”
With the Budget due out in just two weeks, it’s worth hearing Mr Yates’ insights into how the sector can better engage with our bureaucrats.
Check out his full presentation HERE.
