An elderly and terminally ill man in South Australia has applied to end his own life after waiting more than 10 months to receive his much-needed at-home care package, highlighting the real-world impacts of such delays.
Eighty-six-year-old Adelaide Hills resident Cyril Tooze is living with terminal heart and lung problems, and has no relatives living in SA to help care for him.
He was approved for the highest level of at-home assistance under the federal government’s MyAgedCare back in January, but is so far still waiting to receive any care. Reasons given for the delay include increased demand, lack of staff and funding shortfalls.
As a result, Mr Tooze has made the agonising decision to end his own life, and has begun the application process under SA’s Voluntary Assisted Dying laws.
“This is no life,” Mr Tooze told The Australian.
“There is no dignity. I am very sick now and won’t last long. I have started the process.
“Save for some house cleaning I have not received any care despite being approved months ago. Speaking to you will not benefit me, but it might help the next person down the line. No-one should have to suffer like this.”
And he’s not alone. Mr Tooze is just one of almost 70,000 older Australians currently facing delays of more than a year to access home care assistance.
Independent MP Rebekah Sharkie says the wait time blowout is an indefensible mark of shame for the federal government, especially when they were touting their ‘once in a generation’ aged care reforms just recently.
“If Cyril’s story doesn’t shame the government to act, I don’t know what will,” she said.
“Our elderly are dying on waitlists, no wonder there is a sense of hopelessness. They have been all but forgotten.
Chris Grice, CEO of National Seniors Australia, also expressed shock at Mr Tooze’s case and says demand for home care services is still outstripping supply.
“To have a situation where an older person with a terminal illness applies to end his own life (using his state’s Voluntary Assisted Dying scheme) because he understandably can’t wait any longer in pain and without care is appalling,” he said.
“The waitlist for home care packages has surged within the past sixteen months with around 47,000 more people on the wait list since June 2023.
“The services and workforce needed to meet this demand clearly have to grow.”
A spokesperson for Minister for Health and Aged Care Annika Wells told The Australian that while she couldn’t comment on individual cases such as Mr Tooze’s, the government’s recent aged care reforms aim to address this very problem.
“The Albanese Government is committed to ensuring older people can remain independent in their homes for as long as possible,” she said.
“We want to ensure older Australians can access a Home Care Package more quickly, and that’s why the 2024-25 Budget included investment of $531.4 million to fund an extra 24,100 Home Care Packages.
But Mr Grice says that while that funding is welcome, it’s still too far away and does nothing to address the major problem facing the sector – a lack of staff.
“It doesn’t matter how many additional packages there are if we don’t have the staff to deliver them,” he said.
“That’s why NSA continues to call for an exemption for care workers from the Age Pension means test as one solution to help retain experienced staff in the sector.”
Are you waiting for an at-home care package? Are you still waiting to be assessed? Let us know in the comments section below.
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