Aged Care Waitlist Hid Behind New Counting | Sydney News

The government’s new way of counting people waiting for in-home aged care funding has quietly erased over 53,000 names from the official list — but experts say the real number is closer to 154,000. Under the new system, anyone receiving even partial funding gets removed from the waitlist, even if they haven’t received their full package yet. This shift, implemented in November last year, makes the waitlist appear to have dropped dramatically — while masking the fact that nearly 90% of recipients now get a 60% interim package and wait about ten weeks for the rest. The Aged Care Minister denies any change, though a spokesperson admits the old method would disrupt how care spots are allocated. Meanwhile, more than 4,800 people died last year while waiting for their approved home care. Experts call the current reporting “unacceptable” and demand the government report interim and full funding seekers separately — revealing a far longer and more urgent backlog than officially acknowledged. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/229120ab56fb8200