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A CITY of Greater Bendigo director has suggested the community’s concerns about aged care reforms be raised with the minister.
Mayor Margaret O’Rourke will be among the Bendigo delegates travelling to Canberra for the National General Assembly of Local Government, which takes place from June 18 – 21.
Greater Bendigo health and wellbeing director Vicky Mason said the delegates had been encouraged to talk to the Minister for Aged Care, Ken Wyatt, about having ongoing education about changes to home care packages.
She said people were approaching the council with questions about how to access aged care services.
“Council is always prepared to help point people in the right direction,” Ms Mason said.
However, she was worried that the queries stemmed from a lack of awareness about the reforms, which have positioned the My Aged Care website and phone line as the first point-of-call.
“We don’t provide packages, we provide single services,” Ms Mason said.
“If they are over the age of 65 we have to refer them to My Aged Care to come back through the system to us.
“It’s difficult for us, because we don’t want to say, ‘I’m really sorry, we can’t provide you a service,’ but that’s sort of what we have to say because that’s the way the federal government have set it up.”
She said she could see the benefits to the reforms.
“It’s just that a lot of people don’t know about it yet,” Ms Mason said.
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The council last month raised the idea of a public information forum being organised for Bendigo during in-person submissions about key council documents.
The Department of Health sent out personalised letters about the reforms in November and December to people who were approved and considered eligible for home care, a spokesperson said.
The letters were sent to people who were receiving care, and those not receiving care.
The spokesperson described the communications undertaken around the changes to home care packages as “significant”, including print and radio advertising and an updated website.
A ‘national awareness campaign’ was launched at the start of the month.
But aged care volunteer Ruth Hosking said the campaign was too little, too late.
She has created her own resources to assist people in the municipality to get the required assistance, which are available from the Bendigo U3A website: http://u3abendigo.com/info/
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Mrs Hosking’s four-page document breaks the process down into five steps, provides definitions and context around the changes, and a list of providers specific to the local government area.
“I have formatted it in this manner so other centres can use it, but include their area’s aged service providers list,” the former Leading Aged Services Australia Victorian Volunteer of the Year said.
“If you seek this information on the My Aged Care website for some sections you have to scroll through several pages.
“This means people don’t use it as the majority are just interested in knowing what is available in their local government area or town.”
She queried why the federal government’s public awareness campaign did not coincide with changes to the Home Care Packages.
Consumer-directed care became mandatory for all home care packages on July 1, 2015, while home care packages were provided to individual customers from February 27 this year.
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“Older Australians, their families and carers are being encouraged to find out about their aged care options,” Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt said when launching the national awareness campaign earlier this month.
“Making inquiries about aged care, before it is needed urgently, makes a lot of sense.
“It is very stressful when people are faced with a health crisis or an accident happens and they may suddenly find that they need help.”
Mrs Hosking welcomed the minister’s comments, but said more needed to be done to address delays in the home care package assessment and assignment process.
“Applicants for moderate to level four home care packages can wait up to six months for an assessment and months again before being assigned a package,” she said.
“Fortunately, the regional assessment services for basic support and care can respond quickly. But you first must ring My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.”
A spokesperson last month told the Bendigo Advertiser the Department of Health would not be in a position to comment on aspects such as the number of people who have registered since the change, or the expected wait times for care, until changes to the system had stabilised.
“The department expects to start reporting from July 2017, with ongoing quarterly reporting to continue after that time,” the spokesperson said.