Dr Freelander calls for urgent action to fix aged home care ‘crisis’

The Federal Member for Macarthur, Dr Mike Freelander, has written to the Minister for Aged Care, Ken Wyatt, calling on him to fix the growing home care crisis for older Australians.

Dr Freelander said he acted following the release of new data showing close to 105,000 older Australians are languishing in limbo waiting for a home care package.

More than 35,000 older Australians living in NSW are waiting for a package and the care they need, according to the new data.

This includes 27,842 older Australians in NSW waiting with high needs, many with dementia.

“The Turnbull Government is failing the task of caring for older Australians, with no solutions to deal with this growing crisis,” Dr Freelander said.

[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Senate Estimates recently confirmed the average wait time for level three and four home care packages, the highest levels of care, is over ‘12 months’.[/social_quote]

“Older Australians awaiting home care packages in Macarthur deserve better,” he said.

The letter to the minister calls on the Turnbull Government to address the growing home care package waiting list as a matter of urgency in the 2018-19 Budget.

“This situation for older Australians, their families and carers is totally unacceptable,” the Member for Macarthur said.

“With wait times blowing out and more and more older Australians joining the queue for care it is clear the Federal Government needs to act now.”