AUSTRALIA | Australian concerns about delayed home care and provider finances offer a useful comparison as New Zealand considers changes to its own aged care system. In both discussions, the practical issue is whether funding and assessment arrangements allow services to respond as people’s needs increase.
Ageing Australia chief executive Tom Symondson raised those concerns following his appearance at the Senate’s Support at Home inquiry last month. He said more than 100,000 people were waiting for a package, another 100,000 were awaiting assessment, and more than 53,000 were receiving 60 percent of their approved package value.
Symondson acknowledged improved waiting times but said the median remained around 10 months. Needs could increase during that wait, while assessments sometimes overestimated people’s ability to manage independently or their families’ capacity to provide unpaid care.
He also identified implementation costs, increased service complexity, and lower package utilisation as pressures on providers. Utilisation had fallen from levels as high as 88 percent before the programme began to 62 percent at the end of March, he said, making service expansion difficult.
In New Zealand, the independent Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group’s August report identified funding that had not kept pace with delivery costs and home care services that were not consistently designed or funded for people with higher needs.
Its proposed response includes an advanced home care model combining clinical care, nursing, support workers, coordination, and technology. The intention is to support people with more complex needs who can remain safely at home with appropriate oversight.
The group also recommended a nationally consistent contracting framework linking home care, residential care, and aligned services. A common framework for assessing and funding care needs would help support follow the person as their circumstances changed.
Funding recommendations included an immediate uplift for home and residential care, regular reviews of delivery costs, and a proposed Aged Care Pricing Authority. These are recommendations for government consideration, rather than changes already implemented.
The Australian figures do not establish the extent of unmet need in New Zealand. They do, however, give local policymakers a reason to examine the relationship between assessment, allocated funding, and actual delivery before settling new arrangements.
For operators, a commitment to keeping more people at home needs to translate into contracts that support the required care. That includes clinical oversight and coordination, as well as the worker’s visit, with a workable way to adjust support when needs change.
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