Holistic Aged Care Coordination

26/10/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1F3gBXcNuy/?mibextid=wwXIfr

A controversial algorithm used to determine funding for people receiving aged care at home has been slammed by the Commonwealth Ombudsman as unfair, inconsistent and implemented without proper trials.

The new report found algorithm-based assessments "do not merely have the potential to undermine public confidence: rather, a reasonable person would, in my view, lack confidence that the system is in fact fair and consistent", according to the Ombudsman.

Under current rules, automated decisions made by the algorithm cannot be overturned, leaving hundreds of vulnerable older Australians and their families stranded without the essential daily care they need.

Have you or an elderly loved one tried navigating the home care assessment system recently? What has your experience been like?

Read more: https://www.thesenior.com.au/story/9380024/support-at-home-algorithm-slammed-by-commonwealth-ombudsman/

10/10/2026

https://c.org/sFLF5rndrb

End algorithm-only aged care assessments. Let a qualified human decide.

08/10/2026

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/health/wellbeing/ageing/more-than-6400-older-australians-die-waiting-for-home-care-as-queue-deaths-surge/news-story/457b0298a359a38589f3b6eba8cbf4b1?fbclid=IwRlRTSAU0OFJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBWZkaWQWUP612_iUhg_8v2q8aFsQAjfNocd1cXNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR45dP4nOoY6L-etjGlXq0gRbI35qA7G7H2j98A4O1pe2iWhGXDnqkGFuH-ebA_aem__COx9SvxsOEb4LTz4HXAsg

More than 6400 older Australians die waiting for home care as queue deaths surge
The number of older Aussies who have died waiting for home care funding they’d already been approved to receive will alarm you, as Labor faces accusations of trying to bury the shocking toll.

EXCLUSIVE: At least 17 older Australians died each day last year waiting to receive care at home, with shocking new figures coinciding with the introduction of the federal government’s new reforms.
Health department figures show 6436 people approved for a Support at Home package, but in the queue for funding, died in 2025-26.
This is up 33 per cent, from the 4812 people who died while waiting under the former National Priority System for home care packages in 2024-25
Former Melbourne schoolteacher John Wilson, 91, was one of the 6436 people who died waiting for his aged care package this year.
His daughter Lynne Meehan described what happened to her father as a “national disgrace” and said the latest figures were “criminal”.
The family said it was galling to receive a letter congratulating Mr Wilson on his funding becoming available just days after his funeral.
“It’s just so wrong that these people who had meaningful lives in the community suddenly get made just a number,” Ms Meehan said. “You just have to wait until your number gets called out, like you’re playing bingo.”
Opposition aged care spokeswoman, Anne Ruston, said Anthony Albanese promised to put the “care back into aged care”, but his government spent months refusing to hand the data over to the Senate.

Instead of fixing the system, Labor has put its energy into avoiding scrutiny. And it is older Australians and their families who are paying the price,” Senator Ruston said. “The extent to which the Government tried to hide this information from the public is gobsmacking. The Prime Minister and his Ministers clearly just didn’t want older Australians and their families to know the truth.”

The mortality rate among people active in the Support at Home Priority System at any point during 2025-26 was 2 per cent, up from 1.7 per cent when Labor took office in 2022.
Health department documents state that the proportion of people dying in the queue has “remained relatively stable since 2021–22”, relative to the total number of people in the system

It also stated the figure was “proportionate to broader demographic trends”.
Senator Ruston said the figures, published online, emerged only after the government failed to comply with two Senate orders for the production of documents.
She called on the government to release how long the 6436 older Australians who died had been waiting, and commit to publishing deaths on the home care waitlist every quarter.
The number of deaths soared as high as 16,000, or 7.3 per cent, in 2017-18 under the former Coalition government.

In Opposition, Anthony Albanese said it was “extraordinary” that people approved for aged care packages died waiting to receive it.
Advocate Melissa Reader, behind the campaign FACES to highlight people dying while waiting for funding, said these numbers were only being published because the government had been made to do so.
“There’s no routine publishing, there’s no transparency,” Ms Reader said.
“This is not just a waiting list statistic, it’s actually over 6000 people who just ran out of time.”
Ms Reader is calling for people who are waiting, to add their names and photos to her campaign board.
This masthead launched the Care Repair campaign to highlight flaws in the aged care system following the reforms in November 1. As a result of our stories the government dropped co-contributions for personal care – showers, continence care and dressing – from October 1.
Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said: “Every single death of someone who is waiting for care is a tragedy. My thoughts and condolences are with every family who has lost a loved one”.
“The rate of people passing away on the Support at Home Priority System is significantly lower than the rate of death for older Australians in the broader population, and those in the aged care system already,” Mr Rae said.

While the amount of people receiving services has risen by 26 per cent in the past year, this data tells an important story about the growth in Australia’s older population and about the growing aged care demand that Government must meet.”
He acknowledged there was “more work to do”, adding the government was “determined to get this right by delivering a stronger assessment system, bringing down wait times and building more residential beds”.

EXCLUSIVE: At least 17 older Australians died each day last year waiting to receive care at home, with shocking new figures coinciding with the introduction of the federal government’s new reforms.

08/10/2026

Holistic Aged Care Coordination is growing.

With clients in rural Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales and all over Queensland, we can support your needs wherever you are - Australia Wide.

HOLISTIC AGED CARE COORDINATION
Personalised Support. Fair Pricing. Genuine Care.
A Boutique Alternative to Large Aged Care Providers
At Holistic Aged Care Coordination, we believe your aged care funding should be used to support you—not swallowed up by excessive administration and overhead costs. We provide independent, personalised aged care coordination that focuses on your individual needs, goals, and wellbeing. As a small business, we take the time to build genuine relationships and deliver the responsive support you deserve.

Why Families Choose Us
✓ Personalised one-on-one service
✓ Consistent support from the same coordinator
✓ Flexible, client-centred care planning
✓ Independent advocacy and guidance
✓ Prompt communication and genuine care
✓ Value-for-money support that helps maximise your funding
How We Can Help
• Home Care Package support and coordination
• Navigating My Aged Care services
• Connecting you with trusted support
• Care reviews and service changes
• Family support and advocacy
• Ongoing care monitoring and coordination
Making Every Dollar Count
Unlike larger organisations, our focus is on delivering quality support and practical outcomes—not maximising profits. We work with you to ensure your funding is used effectively, helping you access the services that matter most while maintaining independence and quality of life.

Contact Alicia Today
🌐 holistic-aged-care-coordination.com.au
📧 [email protected]

Holistic Aged Care Coordination
Compassionate guidance. Personalised support. Better value for your aged care funding.

Welcome to Holistic Aged Care Coordination. We're here to help you navigate the complexities of aged care, ensuring your individual needs and wellbeing are always put first. Let us guide you towards maximizing the benefits of your Aged Care Package. We operate in Australia - all states - based out o...

02/10/2026

01/10/2026

https://act.getup.org.au/s/NIB2s3NS

Can you share the campaign with your friends and family to help us reach more people? Up to half of petition signatures come from shares, so it makes a real…

20/09/2026

This!

27/08/2026

Four days before she died, Dolly Parton quietly warned about something that almost nobody noticed - and it explains what really happened in her final months.

She gave away a fortune, mailed 300 million books to children, then spent her final years doing a job no one ever saw. THIS is the part of Dolly's story the tributes are leaving out.

Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026, at her home in Nashville. She was 80. While the world remembers "Jolene," "9 to 5," and the rhinestones, I want to talk about the chapter almost no one is covering - the one that touches 63 million Americans right now.

For the last years of his life, Dolly was the primary caregiver for her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean. Not a manager of caregivers. The caregiver herself. Medications, symptoms, sleepless nights, all of it. Carl died in March 2025 at 82. In the months that followed, Dolly said publicly what most caregivers only whisper: while watching over Carl, she let her own health go. Skipped appointments. Ignored warning signs. Ran on empty.

She died roughly 17 months after he did.

I've spent years researching what happens to family caregivers, and I've watched this pattern play out in thousands of families. Researchers call it the widowhood effect: after a long-married spouse dies, the survivor's own risk of dying rises sharply over the next 12 to 18 months. It isn't poetry. It's biology.

In this video I cover three things about Dolly that very few people know - her largely hidden generosity, the quiet 60-year love story that started at a Nashville laundromat, and the warning she left for every caregiver in America.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
• The early career decision that changed her fortune forever
• How the Imagination Library reached 300+ million free books
• What caregiver burnout actually does to the human body
• The three biological mechanisms behind the widowhood effect
• Why "let me know if you need anything" is the worst thing to text a caregiver
• What actually helps — and what has to change

THE NUMBERS (AARP / National Alliance for Caregiving, 2025)
• 63 million Americans are family caregivers — nearly 1 in 4 adults
• That's a 45% increase since 2015
• Caregivers provide an average of 27 hours of care per week
• 24% provide 40+ hours — a second full-time job
• More than 4 in 10 are in high-intensity care situations
• 1 in 5 caregivers rate their own health as fair or poor
• 29% are "sandwich generation" — caring for kids and adults at once

CHAPTERS
00:00 The News - and 3 Things Few People Know
01:03 Why I'm Making This Video
01:25 The Fortune She Gave Away
02:39 The Imagination Library and Her Father's Secret
04:03 Wildfires, Vanderbilt, and Free College at Dollywood
05:01 The Role She Took On Behind Closed Doors
06:20 What Dolly Admitted After Carl Died
07:17 The Laundromat, 1964
09:46 When Carl's Health Started to Fail
10:31 The Hidden Cost of Being On Duty 24/7
12:05 63 Million Americans Are Living This
14:14 The Sandwich Generation and the Financial Hit
15:46 The Widowhood Effect: The Dangerous 18 Months
19:06 If You're a Caregiver, Please Hear This
20:34 How to Actually Help a Caregiver
21:54 What Has to Change in This Country
23:54 Rest in Peace, Dolly

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the widowhood effect?
The documented rise in mortality risk for a surviving spouse after their partner dies — driven by the shock of grief, collapsed daily routines like meals and medication reminders, and lost purpose.

Why are caregivers at higher risk?
Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated for months or years, driving inflammation, weakened immunity, and higher blood pressure — often while the caregiver postpones their own screenings.

What did Dolly Parton die of?
Her family has not released a cause of death. She died peacefully at home in Nashville, per her nephew Bryan Seaver.

I'm a caregiver and I'm exhausted. Where do I start?
Make your own checkups non-negotiable, protect sleep where you can, and think in seasons — this week, this month — not an indefinite marathon. And let go of the guilt. You were never meant to do this alone.

ABOUT
Neal K. Shah is a Johns Hopkins- and NIH-funded caregiving researcher and CEO of CareYaya, and has helped thousands of families navigate aging, dementia, and serious illness. This channel breaks down the health and caregiving news that actually affects older adults and the people who care for them.

If this helped you see a caregiver in your life differently, share it with them. And if you're the caregiver - put your own oxygen mask on first.

Subscribe for weekly breakdowns of the caregiving news that actually matters.

DISCLAIMER: Educational content only, not medical advice. I'm a caregiving researcher, not a clinician. Consult a healthcare professional about your own health. Reporting on Dolly Parton's death is ongoing.

Four days before she died, Dolly Parton quietly admitted something ...

25/08/2026

A Four Corners investigation can reveal the number of people waiting for full aged care funding at home stands at almost 154,000 — not 100,000 as officially reported.