A dire situation is unfolding for older Australians, with a shocking wait time for aged care assessments. This critical issue has left many families in distress and vulnerable older adults without the support they desperately need.
A Race Against Time: The Fight for Aged Care Support
Peter O'Shannessy's story is a tragic example of the challenges faced by older Australians and their families. After a life-altering surgery for throat cancer, Peter, 74, was left unable to speak or eat. His family's hopes for support were dashed when they learned they faced a wait of seven to nine months, joining a national queue of over 121,000 people.
As Peter's health deteriorated, with cancer returning and urgent nursing care required, the family's desperation grew. They sought a reassessment, but the wait time remained a daunting obstacle.
"Dad's needs were increasing by the moment," Eloise Randall, Peter's daughter, said. "We needed personal care assistance, we needed nursing."
The family's journey highlights a controversial shift in the aged care assessment system. For decades, Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT) based with state and territory health departments conducted assessments. However, in December last year, the government partially privatized the system, contracting over a dozen companies for assessments, at a cost of over $1.2 billion.
But here's where it gets controversial: the government's claim that wait times are not long is contradicted by the experiences of families and the latest figures. There are now over 116,000 people waiting for aged care assessments across the country, with some families waiting up to 10 months.
Eloise Randall's account is heart-wrenching. She spent countless hours on the phone, pleading for support, only to be met with an assessment date eight weeks away, a date that arrived too late for her father.
"I warned and warned them, he'll be gone," she said. And tragically, Peter passed away four weeks before his reassessment.
"He spent his last weeks feeling like he was drowning, in fear and anxiety, with no suitable support," Eloise said, tears in her voice. Her mother, exhausted and burnt out, cared for Peter alone, despite the family's relentless efforts to secure help.
And this is the part most people miss: the impact of privatization. While Aspire4Life, a not-for-profit, was responsible for Peter's support services assessment, the pressure to meet Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the dehumanization of assessments are concerning.
A former clinical assessor, Janine Mason, quit one of the new private assessment companies, citing pressure to conduct assessments quickly. She revealed a disturbing practice where elderly people were dropped from the waiting list if they didn't respond to phone calls, often without their knowledge.
"There are KPIs about contact time, and if older people don't respond to three calls, their referral is rejected," she said. This practice, confirmed by the ABC, raises ethical questions and highlights the potential consequences of privatization.
The aged care royal commission, in its 2021 report, recommended streamlining assessments but did not advocate for privatization. It emphasized the importance of independence, ensuring assessors had no conflict of interest with service providers.
However, the ABC's investigation reveals that more than half of the contracted companies are also service providers or related entities, raising concerns about potential conflicts.
Despite this, the government maintains that it has "robust arrangements" to prevent conflicts and can take strict actions, including terminating contracts. However, the department's admission at Senate Estimates that KPI obligations would not be enforced for 12 months post-establishment raises further questions.
As Peter's family grieves, they fear for vulnerable older Australians without family support. Eloise Randall's despair is palpable: "It's probably too hard to navigate the bureaucracy. Dad's final wish was to speak again, but we had to speak for him, and still, we got nowhere."
This story is a stark reminder of the human cost of bureaucratic delays and the urgent need for reform in aged care assessments. It's time to address these issues and ensure that older Australians receive the timely and compassionate care they deserve.
