Video above: Sue reveals the reality of caring for her elderly dad. Watch Insight's ep. Caring for Ageing Parents, Tuesday at 8:30pm on SBS and On Demand.
At the age of 98, Beverly Baker’s father, Walter Higgins was still living independently in his own home and was adamant that’s where he wanted to live out his days.
Beverly had her father assessed for an Home Care Package - a government funded home support program designed to assist elderly people to stay in their own home. Beverly’s dad was approved at level four, the highest funded level of care worth $52,000 a year. The family however, was told the waiting list for his approved package was up to four years long.
"He needed the support asap," Beverly said.
Beverly said her father had a fall when he was alone in his own home while waiting for his Home Care Package. This meant Beverly had to make a difficult decision that went against her father’s wishes.
“He fell over, he couldn’t get up, I’m an hour and a half away from him and we found him navy blue on the floor, heartbreaking," she told Insight.
"In hindsight it would’ve been better if I’d been half an hour later and he would have passed because he would’ve passed a happy man in his own home. He spent the next two years of his life in absolute misery."
Beverley pictured with her father. Source: Supplied
Beverly said after the fall, it was no longer safe for her dad to be on his own and she had to put him in a nursing home, a decision he resented her for.
“Look it was a horrible role to have to play to get him to recognise his own frailty."
"What I would’ve preferred to happen is that the government do what we pay them for, provide the level four care he was assessed for which means he had someone with him for seven hours a day which means they could’ve washed him, fed him, cleaned his house, put him to bed and then back in the morning ... That stuff was really important for us to keep him at home but he couldn’t get it because he had to wait until he was 102!”
Walter died while still on the waiting list, six months before his 100th birthday in 2020.
“I felt angry that we couldn’t get the care that we tried to put in place for him, the level four Home Care Package, it never came through in time. I was very angry about that.”
Home care packages, funded by the federal government, are designed to support older Australians still living at home with tasks including cleaning, gardening, shopping and showering. They can be approved at four levels: from level one for basic care, costing around $9000 a year, right through to level four.
Beverley's father died while he was still on the waitlist for at-home care. Source: Supplied
A Productivity Commission report released earlier this year stated that more than 96,000 people were still on a waiting list for their approved home care package as of December 2020. That’s a slight drop from the almost 100,000 who were waiting for their approved package in September 2020. In the past two and a half years, 27,278 Australians have died while waiting for their approved package.
Richard Colbeck, the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, told Insight the health and wellbeing of older Australians remains a priority for the Morrison Government.
“It is why we are investing $6.5 billion (between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2025) to address the critical needs for home-based care for senior Australians.”
“This is the single largest investment in home care packages ever. This funding will allow senior Australians to age in place and more quickly access the support they are approved for.”
In May's federal budget, the Government announced a funding boost of $17.7 billion over five years to Australia's aged care sector. Eighty thousand extra home care packages will be provided over the next two years, a figure Health Minister Greg Hunt was adamant would be enough to clear the current backlog.
Of those extra packages, the Governments said 12,000 will be provided to those who need level four care, with 5,000 reserved for those who need basic care to be reallocated. In total, the government said, more than 275,000 home care packages will be available to senior Australians by 2023.
Minister Colbeck also told Insight that those waiting for a package are still provided access to care.
“Around 99 per cent of senior Australians waiting for a package at their assessed level have also been offered support from the Government, including an interim package or Commonwealth Home Support Program and continue to have access to Australia's world-class health care system.”
He added that the Department, “has commissioned a study for 2021 to examine if consumers with more complex needs can be safely supported at home, instead of entering residential aged care. This work will inform the overall design of the Support at Home program.”
Like her father, Beverly, 71, wants to remain in her own home as she ages and is adamant she doesn’t want her three daughters to be responsible for her care. She wants the government to fix the ailing system so she can arrange support services for herself to continue living independently.
“I want to be able to say to my daughters, ‘Come down and visit me when you’re ready,” as none of them live local. I want to be able to say it’s fine, I have worked hard all my life, paid my taxes, so these support services are here for me and it’s not a problem."
"I don’t want to be a burden. I want to be able to choose my own exit so that I am not left in a stinky nappy in a nursing home with nobody coming to wipe my bum.”
