Urgent action is needed to address the more than doubling in home-care package wait times for older Australians, COTA Australia says.
The call follows the release of Productivity Commission aged care data which shows the median time between being approved for a home-care package and receiving services increased from 118 days in 2023-24 to 245 days in 2024-25.
COTA Australia – the leading advocacy organisation for older people – Chief Executive Officer Patricia Sparrow said while some of the metrics measured in the Productivity Commission data are trending in the right direction, too many older Australians are still missing out on the quality care they need and deserve.
“It’s good to see clear evidence that increased care minutes and better nursing coverage are making a difference inside aged care services, but for older people who are still waiting months – or even years – to get the care they’ve been assessed as needing, those improvements don’t mean very much,” Ms Sparrow said.
“No one should ever have to wait more than 30 days for the care they need.
Ms Sparrow said the Federal Government must urgently increase the supply of home-care packages and ensure the new aged care reforms translate into quality care.
“When people can’t access home care in a timely way, their health declines, families are pushed to breaking point, and people end up in hospital or residential care earlier than they should,” she said.
“That’s distressing for older people and their families – and it puts even more pressure on hospitals and the broader health system.”
Ms Sparrow said there is also significant room for improvement when it comes to compliance with quality standards in home and community care.
“The data shows a significant drop in home and community care providers meeting quality standard levels. We’ll be looking to see how compliance fares under the new standards that commenced on 1 November 2025, but it’s clear that’s an area that needs to be improved immediately.
“Older Australians deserve a quality care. It’s time they got that.”
Media contact: Tamara Kotoyan, 0430 291 890 or Alana Mew, 0419 929 722