Complaints about residential aged care have risen 30 per cent in three years and both older Australians and their carers are significantly less satisfied with government aged-care support than eight years ago, The Australian reports.
The Productivity Commission’s 2020 report on government services also finds fewer than half the people receiving services under the National Disability Insurance Scheme feel “in control” of the services, despite client choice and control being one goal of the scheme.
The commission found despite government spending of more than $20bn a year on aged-care services in 2018-19, need was not being met for a significant proportion of older people, defined as those over 65 and indigenous Australians over 50.
“Nationally in 2018, 34 per cent of older people who were living in households and in need of assistance reported that their need was not fully met. The proportion was higher for those with a profound or severe disability (41.7 per cent) than for those without a disability (20.5 per cent),” it said.
“During 2018-19, 5748 complaints were (made about) residential care services, which equated to 30.4 complaints per 1000 residential care residents. This rate is up from 23.1 and 19.9 complaints per 1000 residents in 2017-18 and 2016-17 respectively.”
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Residential aged-care complaints up by 30pc (The Australian)
