CTO celebrates Government decision to delay home care reform agenda

It is with great pleasure that we share today’s announcment of  the Federal Government’s decision to delay the implemention of in-home aged-care reforms to 01 July 2024 in line with the Royal Commission recommendations.

Media reports highlighted that the postponement has come ‘amid concern in the sector that the rollout was being rushed’ and explained that the government will ‘use the additional time for consultation in the sector,­ including with older Australians needing additional support, their families and carers, as well as ­service providers and aged-care advocates.’

Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells also asserted that “In-home care, on which more than one million Australians rely, is not an area to make policy on the run… We are returning to the royal commission’s recommendation… and taking the time to address the concerns.”

This is a great achievement for the community transport sector in NSW. The CTO has carried out innovative and sector leading work with the Support at Home Alliance, the Australian Health Services Research Institute and the Centre for Health Service Development to elevate the voice of our industry and ensure that transport is a part of ongoing discussion and co-design efforts.

Recognition that the transition to reform is a serious and time consuming pursuit is the first step in supporting Government to understand the important and life affecting role transport plays in the quality of life for our senior Australians.

Thank you to our members who have supported these efforts with letter writing campaigns and conversations with local members – it has been a great team effort.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells speaking in parliament – Photo courtesy of The Guardian Newspaper

To learn more…

Read a press release from Minister Wells’ office here

Read the ACCPA Press Release here

Read the Community Care Review article here

 

In 2020, nearly 4.9 million residents of New South Wales over 18 years of age gave time as a volunteer.
This included people who volunteered formally with organisations and those who did not have an affiliation with an organisation but contributed informally to their communities. Volunteers contributed over 1.5 billion hours in 2020, with individuals volunteering for an average of
5.6 hours every week.

It was shown in this study that volunteers are a frontline workforce, delivering services to communities in a wide variety of contexts in not-for-profit organisations (2.6 million volunteers in 2020), in private
sector organisations (0.7 million volunteers in 2020), and for governments (0.6 million volunteers in 2020), as well as undertaking informal volunteering.