More than 11,000 Hawkesbury residents are aged 65 or older, highlighting the local consequences of lengthy waiting times for government-funded home-care services.
Ageing Australia CEO Tom Symondson told an Australian Parliament Senate inquiry into the Support at Home program on Tuesday 22 September that older Australians were waiting too long for assessments and essential assistance.
Mr Symondson said the median waiting time for care was about 10 months, well outside the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s recommendation that nobody should wait longer than one month.
“While we have seen some welcome improvement in waiting times, we’re still a long way off the Royal Commission’s recommendation,” he said.
“We still regularly hear cases of people waiting much longer than that, even for very high levels of care.”
Ageing Australia represents aged-care and seniors-housing providers nationally.
The organisation told the inquiry that more than 100,000 Australians were waiting to receive an approved care package, with another 100,000 waiting to be assessed.
It said more than 53,000 people were receiving only 60 per cent of the value of their approved package.
“With over 100,000 people waiting for a package, another 100,000 waiting just to be assessed and more than 53,000 receiving only 60 per cent of the value of the approved package when they finally do get it, I do not think we can safely say yet that people are getting access to care when, and where, they need it,” Mr Symondson said.
Hawkesbury’s ageing population
The 2021 Census recorded 11,137 Hawkesbury residents aged 65 or older, representing about 16.6 per cent of the local population.
That included:
- 3,341 people aged from 65 to 69;
- 3,022 aged from 70 to 74;
- 2,161 aged from 75 to 79;
- 1,398 aged from 80 to 84; and
- 1,215 residents aged 85 or older.
A further 4,134 residents were aged from 60 to 64, meaning more than 15,000 people, or almost 23 per cent of the Hawkesbury population were already aged 60 or older at the time of the Census.
The figures indicate that demand for home care, mobility equipment, health services and assistance with daily living is likely to remain a significant issue for the district.
Hawkesbury City Council’s 2024–25 annual report placed the city’s population at approximately 68,704.
The Hawkesbury’s size and dispersed settlement pattern can add practical challenges for people trying to obtain services in their homes, particularly those living in rural and more isolated areas.
Delays can leave packages outdated
Mr Symondson told the inquiry that lengthy delays could mean a person’s approved care package no longer reflected their condition by the time services commenced.
“We do regularly hear of people having a lower level of package than their needs would dictate,” he said.
“Some of that is because they have waited a long time and their needs have increased in the interim.
“If they’ve waited 10 months since assessment to receive care, that package is likely no longer enough to support them.”
He also raised concerns that assessments sometimes overestimated the amount of unpaid assistance relatives could provide.
The Census recorded 6,323 Hawkesbury residents or 11.6 per cent of people aged 15 and older providing unpaid help to somebody because of disability, illness or old age.
While family members provide a substantial amount of care, Ageing Australia warned that government assessments should not assume relatives have the capacity to fill gaps left by inadequate formal support.
Providers losing money
Ageing Australia also told the inquiry that the financial viability of home-care providers had deteriorated following changes to the system.
Mr Symondson said providers were now losing money on every package, making it difficult for organisations to expand their services despite strong demand.
He attributed the problem to the increased complexity of delivering Support at Home services, the unfunded cost of implementing the reforms and a fall in package-utilisation rates.
According to Ageing Australia, utilisation had fallen from as high as 88 per cent before November 1 to 62 per cent by the end of March.
Mr Symondson said that decline meant providers were receiving less income while still meeting staffing, administration, compliance and service-delivery costs.
A $100 aid requiring a $1,800 process
The inquiry also heard concerns about barriers to obtaining assistive technology and relatively inexpensive mobility equipment.
Mr Symondson said extensive assessment and compliance requirements could make simple purchases needlessly expensive.
“An $1,800 process to assess whether someone needs a $100 mobility aid is clearly not what anybody intended,” he said.
“Providers want to be able to provide the aids that older people are crying out for, but we cannot currently do that as we would wish.”
Mobility aids, home modifications and other assistive technologies can help older people remain independent and reduce their risk of falls, injuries and premature entry into residential care.
Ageing Australia members Uniting NSW.ACT, Hall and Prior and Pearl Home Care also gave evidence at the hearings, alongside UnitingCare Australia, the Council on the Ageing and the Older Persons Advocacy Network.
Ageing Australia has called for urgent action to shorten assessment and package waiting times, ensure care levels reflect people’s current needs, simplify access to assistive technology and make home-care services financially sustainable.
