Home care bureaucracy proves a nightmare

“NO DAY of Dad’s has commenced or ended without prayer,” Margaret Jolly said.

But she fears his days are getting longer and harder on him while he waits endlessly for help from My Aged Care.

Fr Arthur Fellows is one of almost 127,000 older Australians who have been waiting months, if not years, for a Home Care Package.

And at times she is ready to scream with the frustration of it. At 96, Fr Fellows is currently on a Level 2 package, which provides five hours of help a week, but he is shaky on his feet and becoming increasingly frail. After being assessed by ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Team), he was approved in February 2018 for a Level 3 package. Nothing happened. When Margaret rang in July to find out when the services would start, she was told by My Aged Care there was a 12-month wait.

When she called again in December, she was told it was a 12-month–plus wait. She has been told unofficially that the wait for many people is 2–3 years.

She pointed out to My Aged Care that her father was 96 and could conceivably not live long enough to receive the service. She has heard of one woman whose mother was finally approved for a Level 4 package – for those needing the greatest help for issues including dementia – 18 months after she died.

If her father’s condition had deteriorated, My Aged Care told her, he could be re-assessed … it would take six weeks to be seen, at which point he would spend an hour answering the same questions as he had several months ago.

“The irony is, I’ve given up work to help Dad,” Margaret said. “If he had the help he needed, I would be paying the government far more in tax than it would cost for his package.”

She said the government had “got the maths all wrong”, with money that should be going to help older Australians to stay safely at home instead being spent on bureaucracy.

She said dealing with the bureaucracy around My Aged Care and ACAT had “just about defeated me”.

But she won’t let it because she said her father was “the most thankful, loving person … the best human being you could possibly meet” and he and others of his generation deserved better.

Alison Houston

‘‘ IF HE HAD THE HELP HE NEEDED, I WOULD BE PAYING THE GOVERNMENT FAR MORE IN TAX THAN IT WOULD COST FOR HIS PACKAGE.

MARGARET JOLLY