Aged care action call

Waiting list for help packages ‘appalling’, says advocate

URGENT action is needed to help the thousands of people on the waiting list for a home care package, the peak body for older Tasmanians says.

Some are dying while they wait, which Council on the Ageing Tasmania acting CEO Deb Lewis said was “appalling”.

Ms Lewis was speaking in response to a damning interim report from the Aged Care Royal Commission released on Thursday.

The report said the Australian aged care system was “in a shocking state of neglect” and needed fundamental reform.

It recommended immediate measures be taken to ease home care waiting lists, stop the over-use of drugs to sedate residents and stop the flow of younger people with disabilities into aged care.

Ms Lewis said COTA was pleased to see action on home care packages at the top of the agenda.

“We are dealing with the fallout of that every day,’’ she said.

Federal Labor MP for Franklin Julie Collins said the report put a spotlight on the worst failings of the system.

“Here in Tasmania, we currently have over 2000 Tasmanians sitting on the home care wait list, who cannot get access to the home care package they’ve been assessed and approved for,’’ she said.

“If the Government were to act immediately, that would help Tasmanians sitting on that waiting list.

“When you’ve got somebody in their 90s that has been told they have six months to live, to tell them they have to wait two years for their home care package is not OK.

“In a wealthy nation like Australia, we must do better.”

Royal Commission hearings will be held in Hobart from November 11-15, which will inquire into the operations of selected providers that operate residential aged care facilities in Tasmania.

“Some people are doing it well, but others are not. I think [the hearings] will be reinforcing the issues raised in the interim report,’’ Ms Lewis said.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the Government would spend $21.7 billion on aged care this financial year but acknowledged there was work to be done to fix the system.

They said the stories arising from the Royal Commission were confronting and said the Government must learn from them.

The commission’s final report is expected to be released in November next year.