UnitingCare Australia has expressed concern that 10,000 new home care packages won’t fix the aged care sector’s wait list.
The organisation welcomed the Morrison Liberal Government’s $537M injection into aged care, but says that the sector has concerns.
The government announced the additional funding on Monday, 25 November. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the additional money was only an initial response to a scathing royal commission report into the aged care sector.
Claerwen Little is UnitingCare Australia’s National Director.
“We hope this is a real injection of additional funds rather than an accounting exercise that delivers a Budget surplus,” Ms Little said.
“Our first ask for this MYEFO and the upcoming Budget is to fund services to ensure that every older Australian gets the care they need, when they need it.”
“We look forward to hearing from Government on how their plan to unify the Home Care Packages and Commonwealth Home Support programs will fix the wait list problem”
UnitingCare have called for the government to fix the housing waitlist. According to UnitingCare, 10,000 level three and four home care packages will do little to reduce the wait time of up to two years for people waiting for care they need.
The organisation has also called for the government to:
Reinject the 9.5% funding to residential aged care lost through cuts over the last decade
Increase the rural and remote supplement by $10 per day, per resident to enable rural and remote Australians to remain in their communities
Build a sustainable, quality aged care workforce by funding the implementation of the recommendations in the Aged Care Workforce Strategy.
UnitingCare Australia is the national body for the
Uniting Church’s community services network in Australia, supporting 1.4
million people each year across urban, rural, and remote communities.
Jonathan Foye is Insights’ Editor
