The Commonwealth Home Support Program is meant to provide critical supports to help older Australians stay at home longer, and ease pressure on the aged care system. But older Australians say they are waiting months for help, and often end up having to just pay for supports themselves.
Older Australians have been left waiting months to get handrails installed, or receive help with cleaning and gardening their homes, as a program designed to help them live at home fails to keep up with demand.
Ms Willett said there were five providers in her area who she called routinely for more than a year, but was consistently told they either didn't have the funding or staff to help. "It's not much point in offering them to anybody if they know that in fact, the funds aren't there," Ms Willett said.The Department of Health and Aged care said people requiring urgent services were prioritised to ensure they remained safe at home.
Chief executive of the Older Persons Advocacy Network Craig Gear agreed it was "quite concerning" that people were waiting weeks or months for help, because they were often doing the tasks anyway, putting them at risk. He was deemed eligible for higher support through a Home Care Package, but due to a capacity limit he was offered CHSP help in the interim, which she described as a "pretend buffer".The Commonwealth Home Support Programme offers support to people with "low level care needs", according to the program's website.A Home Care Package is the step up from that and supports people who have "more complex needs" and require ongoing care and support.
Retirement Home Care Older People Commonwealth Home Support Programme
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