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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Key pointsThe FACES collective is demanding the government publish detailed quarterly data on aged care wait times.Thousands of older Australians have died while waiting to receive their approved in-home support funding.In response, the federal government plans to add 32,000 places to shorten wait times by mid-2027.<\/p>\n A lack of transparency about waiting times for government-funded aged care support packages approved months earlier is driving families to breaking point as they balance care for ageing parents, their children and full-time jobs.<\/p>\n More than 600 families, carers, older Australians, clinicians and advocates have joined the Families for Aged Care Equity and Support (FACES) collective to put pressure on the federal government to publish accessible, consistent data on wait times for aged care support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to give people a voice because they feel very invisible, very left behind, very forgotten,\u201d convener Melissa Reader said.<\/p>\n She said \u201coverwhelmed\u201d families who had been approved for aged care support had not received sufficient information on waiting times.<\/p>\n \u201cThey might get an odd letter here and there saying you\u2019re still in the queue,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know if it\u2019s three weeks, three months or 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n Contributors to the FACES website wrote about being approved for funding, but not receiving it for months or even years. Others received their funding but, due to high demand, were told no suppliers were available.<\/p>\n \u201cNavigating [dad\u2019s] grief, his daily care and decline whilst still raising my own family with all its challenges, as a single working parent is \u2026 exhausting,\u201d one contribution read.<\/p>\n \u201cAs [mum\u2019s] health and mobility kept declining, I needed to provide increasing care \u2013 help with showering, dressing, medications, toileting and more. This meant I had less capacity for work, and we had to dip into our savings,\u201d another wrote. <\/p>\n In a submission to the Senate inquiry into the Support at Home program on Friday, the group is requesting the government publish a detailed quarterly count of those in line to be assessed, those approved but waiting for funding, and those who died before receiving support.<\/p>\n The collective said that when they asked how many approved older Australians were waiting for care, government officials answered with four different numbers calculated differently.<\/p>\n The latest quarterly data available on the My Aged Care website<\/a>, dated March 2026, shows 100,191 people who had been assessed and approved were awaiting Support at Home funding. The website estimated the wait time for someone deemed \u201cstandard priority\u201d was seven to eight months, with applicants told of their prioritisation level once approved.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said in a statement the federal government was \u201cworking hard to bring down wait times\u201d, and was delivering an additional 32,000 Support at Home places in 2026-27.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce delivered, more than 420,000 older Australians will have access to a support at home \u2013 almost three times as many older Australians compared to those with a Home Care Package in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson said the demand for aged care services was \u201cunprecedented\u201d and that they would \u201ccontinue to listen to the experiences of older Australians so we can get the best outcomes for them\u201d.<\/p>\n Melbourne resident Sarah Smith\u2019s mother, Rhonda, who was based in Adelaide, was approved for help with gardening and cleaning but died after six months on a waitlist and never accessed support.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d go once a fortnight because it was just me and mum,\u201d she said. \u201cDad\u2019s died. I don\u2019t have any siblings. I was trying to do all this stuff from interstate, freaking out.\u201d<\/p>\n She said trying to navigate the complicated aged care system with her mum was \u201cexhausting\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt probably contributed to mum\u2019s feeling of not feeling supported by the system,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut my mum isn\u2019t a number. Her name was Rhonda Smith. She deserved better. And all of these people, their family deserves better as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Last financial year, 4812 Australians died while waiting for support at home, a 42 per cent increase from the 3383 who died the year before, but a significant drop from the 10,563 who died waiting in 2019-20.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Sydney resident George, who requested his name be changed to protect his privacy, has stopped work to look after his dad, who has been on a Support at Home waitlist for almost eight months after being approved last December.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just cannot leave him alone, and I feel like a prisoner in my own home,\u201d George said. He\u2019s also tried to find his dad a residential aged care spot, but was told there aren\u2019t any beds available.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife is the only breadwinner, and during the course of this last year, she had eight surgeries,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have both run out of bandwidth to handle this.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article Patricia Sparrow, chief executive of older person\u2019s advocacy group COTA Australia, said there have been improvements in the level of waiting list data that is publicly available. However, she said information is spread across multiple reports that use inconsistent language and tell only part of the story.<\/p>\n \u201cThis makes it really hard to interpret and to know whether the system is actually improving in its ability to support older people living at home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one should have to wait for more than 30 days to get the care and support they need.\u201d<\/p>\n The government aims to shorten the average wait time for Support at Home to three months by mid-2027.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Vera](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/838a752c49b1ce50796a96d832889ddd6c0c8061.jpeg\")
Vera chief executive and FACES convener Melissa Reader has brought together an alliance of the families caring for elderly loved ones.Sahlan Hayes \/ Aresna Villanueva<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7590999114a2d6ba2ff51d438e0494529f79ac9f.jpeg\")
The wall of faces.faces.org.au<\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4fbd69b889be1b341d307a669d3ec2776bf0daea.jpeg\")
Sarah Smith\u2019s mum died on a waitlist for government aged care support.PENNY STEPHENS<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/21030cabdfff6dc8238e2179446b71a7a1f0539d.jpeg\")
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