In response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Australian Government is committed to reforming and improving the home care system.
The government was originally working towards a July 2023 deadline to implement reforms, however this has been extended to 1 July 2024.
The Department of Health and Aged Care will use the extra time to work with older Australians, their families and carers, workers, advocates and providers to ensure the reforms achieve a better in-home aged care system. Older Australians will be central to this consultation and the Department will release more information in the near future on how they can participate.
When the reforms are introduced in July 2024 there will be no changes made to the in-home care services individuals have in place through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme or the Home Care Packages Program.
The hope is that older Australians will see real progress well before July 2024, including:
- 40,000 additional Home Care Packages
- a cap on how much Home Care Package recipients can be charged for administration and management
- banning of Home Care Package exit fees
- improved monthly reporting statements so people receiving home care services can see where their money is going
- improved access to goods, equipment and assistive technology to make living at home easier
- support for aged care providers to recruit and train 13,000 new personal care workers
- protection from preventable incidents, abuse and neglect through the extension of the Serious Incident Response Scheme to all in-home aged care providers.
The Department is inviting Australians to join a Reforming in-home aged care and regulation webinar on Wednesday 31 August 2022 at 2pm AEST. It will cover the next steps for reforming in-home aged care and provide updates on:
- The outcomes of previous consultations and how input from these consultations has informed the program’s future direction and will inform the development of the new Aged Care Act.
- Designing a new approach to regulating aged care and the development of an overarching Aged Care Act, including upcoming engagement opportunities to inform this work.
- The urgent review of the Aged Care Quality Standards, including upcoming engagement opportunities.
You will have the opportunity to submit questions during the webinar.
For more information or to register for the webinar, please click here.
We all need to work together – government, older Australians, families and carers, workers, providers and advocates – to do everything we can to achieve a better aged care system.
Do you want to get involved? Have your say or sign up for all future updates at the Aged Care Engagement Hub.
You can find more information about the in-home aged care reforms and reviews here or call My Aged Care 1800 200 422.
Mercy Health is working very closely with government and peek bodies to advocate for clients and staff to ensure reforms achieve a better home care program. We will be posting updates here in the news section on our website, so keep an eye out here too.
Last reviewed August 24, 2022.
