Imagine this: You’ve just battled a life-threatening illness, and now you’re told you’ll have to wait months for the care you desperately need. This isn’t a hypothetical scenario—it’s the harsh reality for thousands of older Australians caught in a system that’s failing them. But here’s where it gets even more heartbreaking: stories like Peter O’Shannessy’s are becoming all too common, exposing the cracks in a system that’s supposed to protect our most vulnerable.
When 74-year-old Peter returned home after throat cancer surgery in January, he couldn’t speak or eat. His family was relieved when he was approved for a level-three home care package—a lifeline that promised a recliner, a suction machine, and a personal carer. But their relief was short-lived. They were placed in a national queue of over 121,000 people, with an estimated wait time of seven to nine months. And this is the part most people miss: while they waited, Peter’s cancer returned, and he was declared terminal. His family begged for urgent reassessment, but the system moved at a glacial pace. Peter died just four weeks before his scheduled reassessment, leaving his family devastated and questioning a system that failed him.
Peter’s daughter, Eloise Randall, shared her father’s final weeks with raw emotion. “He went from joking in our family WhatsApp chat to sending my mum a text saying ‘help,’” she recalled. Peter suffered a catastrophic bleed, and his wife was left to manage the crisis alone. “Within 20 minutes, my dad was gone,” Eloise said through tears. Her father’s last wish was to speak again, but the system silenced him—and countless others—with its bureaucracy and delays.
But here’s where it gets controversial: Last December, the Australian government partially privatised aged care assessments, awarding contracts worth over $1.2 billion to companies like Aspire4Life. This shift was meant to streamline the process, but critics argue it’s made things worse. Former assessors like Coral Wilkinson, who now helps families navigate the system, say the workforce wasn’t prepared. “There was some naivety,” she noted, pointing to the lack of expertise in handling complex cases. Meanwhile, families are at their breaking point, with some waiting up to 10 months for assessments. Here’s a thought-provoking question: Did privatisation prioritise profit over people’s lives?
The government insists wait times are improving, citing a median of 23 days for assessments in the July-September quarter. But this statistic feels like a slap in the face to families like Peter’s, who faced far longer delays. Adding insult to injury, some companies have adopted practices that drop elderly people from waiting lists if they don’t respond to three phone calls—often without their knowledge. Janine Mason, a former clinical assessor, quit her job at one of these companies, calling the system “dehumanised.” Is this really the care we want for our loved ones?
The 2021 Royal Commission into Aged Care recommended streamlining assessments but didn’t endorse privatisation. It also warned against conflicts of interest, yet more than half of the companies contracted to provide assessments are also service providers. The government claims it has safeguards in place, but how effective are they when lives are on the line?
Peter’s story isn’t just a tragedy—it’s a call to action. Eloise fears for the countless elderly Australians without family support, who are left to navigate a system that’s too complex and too slow. “It’s probably too hard to sit on the phone and fight the bureaucracy,” she said. So, here’s the question we all need to ask: What will it take for us to fix this broken system? Share your thoughts in the comments—let’s start a conversation that can’t be ignored.
