The Federal Member for Macarthur, Dr Mike Freelander, has called on the Morrison Government to urgently fix the growing home care packages waiting list.
He made the call after the September 2018 quarter of data revealed there are now more than 126,000 older Australians waiting for their approved home care package.
This includes more than 69,000 older Australians who have no package at all.
As the list grows longer and longer, fresh stories emerge daily of older Australians that are waiting years for home care.
Older Australians are entering residential aged care or even emergency departments rather than being able to stay at home and receive the home care they need.
“The growing waiting list will mean constituents in my electorate will have to wait longer – this is not good enough,” said Dr Freelander.
“Since the first release of data, the waiting list for home care has grown from 88,000 older Australians to more than 126,000 nationally.”
He said the latest data masked the full extent of this crisis, with the federal government removing figures that clearly detail the total number of older Australians waiting for care.
“The minister has already admitted the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government will need to consider other interventions to reduce the list, but with older Australians waiting years for care this action needs to be happening now,” Dr Freelander said.
“Labor has been calling the extraordinary growth in the number of older Australians waiting for home care a crisis for a long time.
“The government should not be waiting for the Royal Commission into Aged Care to fix this crisis.
“Action on the home care package waiting list must happen now.”
