City of Ballarat prepares for end to in-home aged care program with final stages of transition plan

On November 28, after City of Ballarat councillors voted to cease providing its Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) at a meeting on November 23, the council submitted a transition plan to assist clients to the federal government.

The plan, which has commenced, involves updating existing client details, ensuring the steps needed to move residents from council's services to a private provider is "successful".

City of Ballarat community wellbeing director Matthew Wilson said the process, which is a "crucial step", is now embarking on its final stages.

"We're now moving into personalising some of the details that are not really part of those profiles," Mr Wilson said.

"We're compiling individualised information around specific service provisions to that person, and any personalised service enhancement, that will assist in making a transition of that client to a new provider.

"By creating those types of profiles, it will then enable us to do a transition process with the staff of the new providers, or the external providers, where our team will sit, one-to-one with those staff and the client, and do a handover introduction in situ, in the client's home.

"So it's a facilitated and coordinated handover of the client to the new service provider."

As for the Regional Assessment Service (RAS), which runs in conjunction with the CHSP and is provided through the City of Ballarat by the state government, Mr Wilson said the council would continue to deliver this program to an extended date of June 2024 as initially planned.

"So (the council has) been really, really active between the point of decision and now in terms of doing all the background preparation work," he said.

The RAS is the main way new referrals have their needs for services assessed which then allows them to be placed into the government's My Aged Care program to be linked with a provider.

While the council has divulged their transition plan for existing clients, the process has not been quite so easy for some residents including for a 78-year-old Alfredton mother.

Her daughter, who wished for her and her mother's name to not be used in the article, said although the council's customer facing staff had been "awesome" guiding her through the ordeal she could not imagine how elderly residents without family assistance may cope.

"My mum had been on the services for four years and she'd get help with cleaning around the house, such as mopping the floors and roof gutter cleaning, and over the years they've (council's in-home aged care staff) always been awesome in giving us feedback on how she's been going," she said.

"It's been OK for me (the transition process) since I've been able to do everything for my mum but for the elderly without family support, it's going to be a nightmare."

On October 28, 2022, the 78-year-old was given a letter about the council's proposed decision.

Her daughter was proactive in ensuring her elderly mother was connected with the right aged care provider, putting in a call to My Aged Care to have her mother's needs reassessed shortly after.

She said even for her the process was challenging having to make multiple calls between Services Australia, the City of Ballarat and My Aged Care to ensure the services she was receiving was on par with her income.

While she had the assessment completed in July and approved in December 2022, she was told by My Aged Care personnel there was only one provider accepting new clients, with their base in Warrnambool.

In council's November 23 meeting agenda, it wrote there were "60 Home Care Package (HCP) providers operating within or nearby to Ballarat," with aged care hub, Australian Unity, located on Sturt Street, accepting five new clients each week.

In response to claims there was only one service provider accepting new clients in the region, Mr Wilson said he "had not heard that" and "that was not our (council's) experience".

This month, as a way to assist those battling difficulties through this new phase, the Western Victoria Primary Health Network (WVPHN) under the federal government's Primary Health Networks Program (PHNP), has launched Care Finder.

"Care Finder services provide specialist and intensive assistance to help vulnerable, older people to find and connect with aged care services in their local area. Care finders will specifically target older people who need intensive support who could otherwise fall through the cracks," WVPHN chief executive Rowena Clift said.

"It is made up of a workforce that has an extensive knowledge of the aged care system, and is trained to work with older, vulnerable people. The workers support people in navigating the system and connects them with the services they need, then keeps checking in to ensure they continue to have their needs met."

The Care Finder program is targeted to older vulnerable people who are eligible for aged care services and require intensive support to engage with My Aged Care or access other relevant supports in the community.

In Ballarat, the free initiative is currently being rolled out by social agencies CatholicCare Victoria in Bakery Hill and Wintringham in Creswick. The service will be delivered until June 2025.

While the landmark council vote has caused contention for residents, it's also been a precarious position for the staff involved.

Across the CHSP and the RAS, a total of 57 staff will be "directly impacted," with those involved with the CHSP to have their employment terminated on June 30 this year, and those in RAS on June 30 next year.

However, as a replacement to these in-home aged care services, the City of Ballarat has proposed a new council-funded model.

It has been highlighted volunteers would form a "significant contribution" to the new program.

This plan, aligning with the City of Ballarat's Ageing Well in Ballarat Strategy 2022-2026, will see deliverables, such as facilitating social programs "in response to identified need", apply to community members aged 55 and above, lowering the current age of eligibility for such services.

Mr Wilson said the council had begun recruiting for the new model with three positions currently being advertised including for a Systems & Volunteer Programs team leader and an Ageing Well Services coordinator.

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He said 11 new roles would open up with the new council-led program with the hopes to have it in operation by July 1.

A total of 2218 elderly residents will be impacted by the city's decision.

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