A reminder that the national broadcaster’s aged care investigation is still ongoing.
The journalist behind the Four Corners ‘Who Cares?’ investigation in 2018 and this year’s Newmarch House enquiry has turned her attention to home care in an eight-minute piece screened on the ABC program on Tuesday night.
You can watch the full segment here.
The report notes that 28,000 people have died while on the waitlist in the past two years, according to Department of Health figures.
But despite the Royal Commission’s Interim Report calling for the Government to cut the 100,000-strong waiting list, just over 7,000 additional packages have been delivered in the past year – less than half of the 16,000 new packages announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the same period.
However, the focus of the story was home care providers’ management fees – which it says can amount to 50% or more of a total package’s funding.
The story cut in older footage of Aged Care Minister, Senator Richard Colbeck, from March this year, stating that the Government a cap on charges.
“That’s the way the system works and I think it’s reasonable if there is a level of competition in the market – that’s how you drive down the cost of the provision of care,” he said in the clip.
“That’s the principle under which the Government wants to work.”
The regulator also comes under fire, with an accompanying story recording that the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) has failed to issue any notices against home care providers, despite receiving almost 500 complaints regarding home care – including 40% related to communication, fees and charges – in the last quarter.
The message to the audience is clear: providers are taking vulnerable older Australians’ money – and the Government and the regulator is doing nothing about it.
