Proveda Urges Vulnerable Customers and Other Seniors to Access Aged Care Home Support Early Free webinars on the Aged Care system will be available to attend starting later in January
Frenchs Forest, NSW - 8 January 2025: Proveda, Northern Sydney Regions largest independent, not-for-profit provider, is urging its customers and others to get a head start on getting into the aged care system or applying for increased support, due to extensive delays with assessment and approval. With many Proveda customers waiting for months to be reassessed, Proveda is hoping to spread the word to those vulnerable in the community and their families to seek support and help before they need it, and is offering free, educational webinars on the Aged Care system to help people better understand how the system works.
The aged care system is going through once in a generation reform, with the current Australian Government Home Care Package (HCP) program providing funding support for around 300,000 older people who want to stay at home for longer. This program will transition to the new Support at Home program from 1July, 2025, however, HCP approved recipients are currently facing delays up to (and sometimes beyond) 12 months to receive their package or to get an approved higher-level package. Home Care Packages are designed to help people aged 65 years and over obtain longer term, in-home support for more complex needs to stay living as independently as possible. The process from checking eligibility to receiving assessment to then support can be long and confusing.
One Proveda customer*, an elderly woman with a dementia diagnosis, which has rapidly increased over the past few months, has been waiting since June 2024 when a reassessment was initially requested to move her from her current level 3 to level 4 package. Initially told the reassessment wait time would take five months, only to have it pass and be told another three months wait would be likely. This is just to be assessed, not to access the required support.
Her daughter and primary caretaker, works full-time and shared the impact the delays have had on her mother and herself: "It's been very stressful and hard to watch mum lose her independence more each day while we await a reassessment. I can't always be there to ensure she will be okay as she goes about her daily activities, and we don't have continuous support with her current package. The longer the delays in her reassessment, the more I worry for her and it's hard to see her freedom being taken away due to the delay in receiving the support she needs to continue to go about her daily activities. You feel stuck when there's nothing you can do to speed up the process and no one can provide an accurate timeline."
The process of getting into the system to receive support can be overwhelming and complex, and Proveda's free, educational webinar sessions are for anyone in the community who is hoping to understand the Aged Care system better and receive advice and tips on the process, the do's and don'ts during assessment, and finding the right provider.
