The latest Home Care Packages Program Data Report reveals the number of people with high-level home care packages grew by 12.6 per cent between 30 June 2018 and 30 September 2018.
The report shows the number of people with level 3 and 4 packages grew by 4,486 over the period to 39,996.
There were 74 per cent more people with a high-level home care package as at 30 September 2018 compared to 30 June 2017.
This growth highlights the Morrison Government’s commitment to provide more senior Australians with subsidised care and support at higher levels.
This support enables people to live in their homes for as long as possible, connected with family and friends, as well as remaining engaged and active in their communities.
During the December 2018 quarter, 29,400 home care packages were released at an average of 2,260 per week.
Around 97 per cent of all people who were waiting for a package at their approved level at 31 December 2018 had already been offered a lower-level package or were approved to access support through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.
Senior Australians requiring home care packages are also set to benefit from the Morrison Government’s further rollout of an extra 20,000 packages since the beginning of 2019.
In December 2018, the Morrison Government announced that an additional 10,000 high-level home care packages (5,000 level 3 and 5,000 level 4) would be released this financial year, with allocations beginning in early January.
This was followed up with a further announcement in February 2019 of an additional 10,000 home care packages to be released during 2018-19 and 2019-20, across all levels.
The additional investment is part of the Morrison Government’s commitment to increase annual aged care funding by $5 billion across the forward estimates.
Our Government’s commitment to aged care transparency is highlighted by the release of quarterly data reports on the operation of the home care system.
This is the seventh data report and primarily covers data from 1 October to 31 December 2018.
