AUSTRALIA | COTA Australia has outlined its belief that the new aged care reforms have not delivered to the expectations promised since they came into effect.
The implementation of the new aged care reforms, including Support at Home, is, so far, falling short of its promises to older Australians, COTA Australia has warned.
The warning is based on concerns reported to COTA Australia by older Australians after the first month of implementation of the new Act and revelations in Senate Estimates that 93 percent of Support at Home packages released have been ‘interim packages’. These packages provide only 60 percent of the funding older people have been assessed as needing.
Chief Executive Officer of COTA Australia, the leading advocacy organisation for older people, Patricia Sparrow said in addition to the issues around interim packages, there are also concerns about older Australians being hit with increased prices and decreased services by aged care providers.
“While there is no question that a right-based framework is critical and the reforms were necessary, the fact is the implementation phase of these aged care reforms is currently letting many older Australians down,” Sparrow said.
“Of course, reform of such a substantial nature was always going to take time to get right, but older Australians were promised these reforms would improve their experience with aged care. One month into their implementation, we’re failing to see that.”
Sparrow said while it was good that the Federal Government released the promised additional home care packages in November to help meet the demand, the fact that they are merely ‘interim’ packages has come as a shock to everyone.
“It was never made clear to older Australians that they would not be getting the full value of the package, which is disappointing,” Ms Sparrow said.
“These are people who, in many cases, have already been forced to wait far longer than they should to be assessed, and then waited for months to have a package allocated to them. Now they’re finding out they’re only getting 60 per cent of what they thought they were getting.”
Sparrow said COTA has received reports of a number of issues relating to the reforms that older Australians are experiencing, including sharp price increases, having to apply and join a long waitlist for reassessment to seek a higher level package just to cover the number of services per month that their former package delivered, and the pressure to sign contracts immediately, despite having 90 days from the time they receive their determination letter from Services Australia.
“While the Government’s ‘no worse off’ principle protects the total amount people pay, allowing providers to set their own fees, and the significant increases now occurring, means many older people are actually receiving less care for the same out-of-pocket cost. Older people are telling us they are worse off as a result,” added Sparrow.
“Providers have also been slow to publish their prices. It’s welcome that Government and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission are now enforcing this requirement, but without published prices older people cannot compare services or make informed decisions about switching providers. And while providers have been given additional time to publish their fees, older people have not been given any extra time before they are required to sign contracts. That imbalance is simply unfair.”
Sparrow said the Federal Government needs to ensure it is delivering on its promise to Australians.
“Older people expected better, and they deserve better,” Ms Sparrow said. “After years of campaigning for crucial changes to improve rights based aged care, it is disappointing that older people are feeling anxious and distressed,” she said.
“Making sure the reforms live up to the promises is mission-critical for COTA Australia. We’re very aware that it is still early days, but we need to see more action.”
More news here.
