Greater Dandenong Council, about 35km southeast of Melbourne, voted to continue providing home care services to older members of the local community at a meeting on 25 March 2024.
The decision was made in part because reforms to Support at Home for the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) have been pushed back from July 2025 to July 2027, which has "removed the urgency from the decision" about whether or not to continue providing home care services, the Council said in a statement.
The Council will now monitor the local home care market and decide if it will seek approval as a home care provider under the competitive market-based Support at Home program.
The Council will also prepare a business case and cost modelling for a new 'Navigation and Support' system to help older people navigate the aged care system.
Feedback from community consultation showed that clients find it difficult to understand and navigate aged care services, especially at the point they are entering a new stage of requiring care, said Mayor of Greater Dandenong City Council, Lana Formoso.
The Government's reforms to home care services have prompted many local council to consider if they will continue delivering the services.
In February, The SOURCE reported that since 1 July 2021, 80 local Councils have exited, at least in part, the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP), the low-care Government-funded program that currently delivers services to more than 800,000 older Australians in the community.
Of those Councils to exit, more than half - 46 - were in Victoria.
