COTA Australia has lodged a submission to the review of the administration of My Aged Care being conducted by the Inspector General of Aged Care.
Our submission focuses on the user experience of My Aged Care and its alignment with the needs of older people, a key criterion of the review terms of reference.
In the submission we argue there is a need for systemic improvement to My Aged Care despite significant investment by the Australian Government in improving access to the aged care system. My Aged Care requires the development and implementation of tangible and transparent performance benchmarks.
Our submission was informed by a survey, conducted in May 2024, targeting people using My Aged Care in the past two years. Many people responding to the survey told us about long waiting times to receive an aged-care assessment and service and variable levels of support from My Aged Care service channels. The survey response emphasised the importance of a face to face, personable approach to support older people understand and navigate the aged care system.
