Retirement village residents nationwide invited to take part in new survey
Retirement village residents anxious over Support at Home rollout
- Big concern: Support at Home dominating resident discussions nationwide
- Long waits: Older Australians waiting up to 12 months for care support
- System confusion: Residents worried about complexity and unclear language
- Strong feedback: More than 1,700 survey responses already received
Retirement village resident associations across Australia are surveying their members about the Support at Home program, which came into effect on 1 November last year.
NSW Retirement Village Residents Association president Roger Pallant told DCM Group CEO James Wiltshire in a recent podcast that the new home care system was the issue causing the greatest concern among residents during visits to 15 retirement villages earlier this year.
Older Australians waited an average of 364 days – almost 12 months – from applying for Support at Home services to receiving care, according to the inaugural Aged Care Act 2024 Wait Times Report.
The average wait time, from application through My Aged Care to receiving services, for residential aged care was 396 days for ongoing care – 13 months – and 434 days for short-term residential care – 14 months.
The RVRA podcast with DCM Group CEO James Wiltshire
“People were confused. They were concerned about the language. They were frightened about what it is going to mean to them, and a lot of people didn’t even know how to engage in getting on the program,” Roger said in the podcast.
The comprehensive survey which was made available two weeks ago, has already had over 1,700 responses.
Roger revealed more than 90% of the respondents to date agreed living in a retirement village helped maintain their independence longer.
He added that he expected the final report on the survey findings to be ready in June.
