Council voted on Wednesday 21 February to transfer in-home aged care services to approved Commonwealth not-for-profit service providers, in a move that will result in forty-five positions being made redundant.

The services that will transfer to not-for-profit agencies include carer respite services, cleaning assistance, shopping support, assistance with personal care and showering and home modifications. 

The decision to transition these services was based on several factors including the Australian Government’s changes to how aged care services are delivered, the financial sustainability of providing the services and inability to meet demand for services.  Currently, the CoPP are losing $1.7 million on providing these services. If Councillors had voted to maintain these in-home services, then the CoPP would have had to cut $1.7M from other services.

Council has committed resources to ensuring a seamless transition of the services from July 2024 to not-for-profit agencies that meet the required clinical and quality standards. Council will continue to run the existing in-home services until all clients have transitioned to the new service providers.

The decision was opposed by vested interests that ran a scare campaign, causing unnecessary anxiety for older residents. Vulnerable elderly people residents were misinformed that their aged care services will be cut and privatised. A tactic which seems to have been designed to protect forty-five age care positions despite assurances that Council will find new jobs for the employees. 

An attempt to delay the decision by six months was defeated in a vote. 

For: Cr Baxter, Cr Nyaguy and Cr Crawford

Against: Cr Bond, Cr Clark, Cr Cunsolo, Cr Martin, Cr Pearl, Cr Sirakoff

Council will continue to provide services for older residents under the Village Model, including social support, transport including the Council run ‘Hop On, Hop Off’ bus and delivered meals. 

Council will provide a Community Connector service for an initial 12–18 month period to assist older people transition from their existing programs to a number of services including:

• The new Support at Home Program
  
• The My Aged Care program 
• Council, and locally provided services already mentioned, and most importantly,
• The maintenance of continuity of care with no gap in the overall services for all clients.

Council have been struggling to provide in-home aged care services due to staff shortages. This has been confirmed by residents who have contacted Port Phillip Matters. An elderly Port Melbourne couple were not able to get their home cleaned by council even though they were recipients of a My Aged Care home care package. The couple informed that Council did not have sufficient staff to provide the cleaning services and the couple were put on a waiting list. A Middle Park resident in his late 80s had not received assistance from Council for six months despite having an approved home care package. 

The final decision to implement the new aged care arrangements was voted up as follows:

For: Cr Bond, Cr Clark, Cr Cunsolo, Cr Martin, Cr Pearl, Cr Sirakoff

Against: Cr Baxter, Cr Nyaguy and Cr Crawford