My Aged Care is the entry point for people to access aged care services. An older person cannot receive aged care funding or services without an assessment to establish that care is needed. My Aged Care enables this assessment, regardless of a person’s cultural background. A review is in progress and submissions are invited. Submissions will close on 14 June 2024.
Review outline
An older person cannot receive aged care funding or services without an assessment to establish that care is needed. My Aged Care enables this assessment.
This review examines whether My Aged Care is fit for purpose in providing assessments for aged care services, regardless of an older person’s:
- location
- health requirements
- cultural background
- identity
- prior knowledge of the system.
This review was prioritised as My Aged Care is the only entry point to the aged care system. Any issues may lead to older or vulnerable people not being able to access or receive aged care in a timely manner.
The objective of this review is to assess whether My Aged Care enables older persons in Australia to navigate to and initiate the assessment process required for entry to the aged care system in a timely manner, regardless of their location, health requirements, cultural background, identity or prior knowledge of the system.
The Review will consider the following criteria to meet the objective of the review:
- Are there clearly prescribed standards against which My Aged Care’s performance can be measured to ensure the Government’s objectives are being met?
- Is the user experience of My Aged Care aligned to the needs of its expected users/target audience?
- Are there distinct access challenges arising in regional, rural and remote areas, and in other contexts, and how does My Aged Care overcome these?
- If My Aged Care is the single point of entry to be assessed for aged care services, what drivers cause older people to seek to access an assessment through other means?
Background
My Aged Care is the Government’s entry point for people to access aged care services. An older person cannot receive any type of Commonwealth aged care service without an assessment to establish that care is needed. The Inspector General of Aged Care consulted widely to explore the systemic issues inherent in the aged care system. A consistent theme emerged as people shared their experiences regarding the role of My Aged Care in allowing people to access and navigate the system.
This review was prioritised as it is critical that My Aged Care facilitates entry to the system, or a significant proportion of older people, or vulnerable cohorts, may find themselves unable to access or receive aged care in a timely manner.
Submissions to the review close on 14 June 2024.
What do we want to know?
The Office is seeking input from people who have used My Aged Care in the past 5 years to seek an assessment for care, or who are planning to use My Aged Care in the future.
The Office is also seeking input from people who have experienced a barrier to using My Aged Care, whether through access difficulties, personal circumstances, technological barriers, or any other issue you wish to raise.
Our questions
1. When did you become aware of My Aged Care and that services may be available to you?
a. Did you know how to find My Aged Care when you needed an assessment, or needed to organise an assessment?
b. If you didn’t know, how did you go around finding out?
2. If you used My Aged Care to organise an assessment of care, how long ago was this?
3. Did you use the website, the phone line or did you use a face-to-face centre?
a. For whichever method you used, how easy was it to use?
4. Were there any issues with availability/reliability of the My Aged Care system or phone line if used?
5. If you used the Services Australia face-to-face centres – were you able to immediately receive assistance?
6. How long did it take to organise an assessment and confirm that an assessment was booked?
7. Did anything stop you from getting an assessment or slow down achieving this?
8. Did anything stop you from accessing My Aged Care?
a. If you could not use My Aged Care, did you access an assessment another way?
b. Did you seek the assistance of a navigator, care finder or advocate to use My Aged Care, and what was your experience?
9. Did you organise this on behalf of someone else?
10. What was your overall experience?
We encourage you to provide us with any examples, data, references, or other additional information that you feel would support your submission.
Who can make a submission?
All individuals or groups are encouraged to provide their views, opinions, or specialised knowledge on this topic.
We are particularly interested in hearing from people from diverse backgrounds, such as First Nations people, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people located in remote locations, and those with reduced capacity or living with disability.
Requirements for submissions
Submissions must:
⟶ Be made in writing
⟶ Be prepared for the purpose of the review
⟶ Be relevant to the terms of reference or the questions asked under the submission process, and
⟶ Be received by the due date
Each submission will be assessed to consider if it addresses the specific terms of reference set out for the review.
How to make a submission
Submissions can be provided as a Microsoft Word Document or PDF (portable document format).
Submissions can also be sent directly by email to submissions@igac.gov.au or post to:
Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care
PO Box 350
Woden ACT 2606, Australia.
More information on making submissions is found here
Submissions to the review close on 14 June 2024.
15 May | Residential Aged Care Forum | Shepparton
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