Baptist Care Australia welcomes additional Home Care Packages but highlights more needs to be done

Baptist Care Australia welcomes the Government announcement of an additional 6,105 home care packages (HCP)  along with a further three-and-a-half-month extension to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which will assist the aged care sector to focus on responding to COVID-19.

Executive Director of Baptist Care Australia, Nicole Hornsby, thanked the Federal Government in delivering the packages which will assist to decrease the large waiting list of people wanting support to remain living independently at home but has asked the Government to remember the urgency required to activate real positive change within the sector.

“Although the additional HCP’s will go a way to assisting, it is important to remember that wait times for high-level home care can be up to 12 months or more, a wait time far too long to ensure adequate care of society’s most vulnerable” said Mrs Hornsby.

“The Royal Commission does not diminish the urgent action required within the sector, particularly given the looming threats of COVID-19 with some providers forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on cleaning, PPE and staffing, whilst approximately 60% of Residential Aged Care facilities are operating at a loss”.

ENDS