Yarra councilor Stephen Jolly said council officers would recommend scrapping home aged care services, with elected members considering the issue in two weeks.
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“What they’re saying is clearly they think the economy of scale is such that we shouldn’t keep it in-house,” he said. “But for all the other municipalities, [outsourcing] it has been a disaster for the people who access the services and we have to take that into account.”
Jolly said Boroondara and the Mornington Peninsula exiting aged care showed older residents were at risk of being left without care if private providers took over.
“If there’s one council that’s bucking the trend and standing up for home-grown high-quality services, it should be Yarra,” he said. “I hope we don’t go down that road, I don’t think it’s good for everybody.”
A council spokeswoman said no decision had been made on the aged care provision, which has a projected budget of $6 million next financial year.
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“Like many other councils in the local administration sector, [Yarra] is currently considering the impacts of national aged care reforms on its services,” he said.
Gay Ochiltree, 86, gets help to clean for an hour every fortnight through the council. He worries that private providers will take over.
“The stories are horrifying,” he said. “I would live and get away with it, but I wouldn’t like it. I know people can be left high and dry and if you don’t have a family, some people don’t, it’s very, very difficult.”
A Port Phillip City Council aged care worker said the council was preparing to move out of home care for the elderly.
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“They’re going to stop the elderly care services in a year or two,” said the worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It is very sad for the residents, the council neglects them. It’s started to happen slowly, services are being shortened, standards are going down.”
Port Phillip Mayor Marcus Pearl denied the council was going to end its home aged care services.
“At this time there has been no discussion of an exit from these services,” he said. “Our town council offers a series of services for the elderly in our municipality.”
Stonnington, in Melbourne’s south-east, has 664 elderly residents receiving home aged care and receives more than $3 million a year from the federal government to administer the care through about 50 staff.
A council spokesman said it was considering its options.
“As the new Australian Government continues to evaluate the delivery of aged services, Stonnington City Council is monitoring changes and discussing with federal government departments that provide funding,” the spokesperson said.
“Ensuring that the continued provision of quality home care and support services is available to older people in Stonnington will be central to any future decisions.”
A federal government spokesman said the decision to forgo CHSP funding was an individual decision by the council.
“The Australian Government cannot order Victorian councils to continue providing CHSP services,” he said. “However, it is important to note that the Australian Government has not encouraged Victorian councils to stop providing CHSP services.”
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