An average of 17 older Australians died each day last year waiting for home care

An average of 17 older Australians died every day waiting for home care last year, new figures reveal

In short:

More than 6,400 older Australians died while waiting to receive home care last year, an increase of more than a third on the previous year.

Advocates have described the figures as an "absolute tragedy".

The federal government has been accused by political opponents of trying to hide the figures.

An average of 17 older Australians died while waiting to receive necessary home care each day last year, according to the latest official figures — an increase of more than a third on the previous year.

New data published by the health department revealed 6,436 older Australians approved for Support at Home, but in the queue for funding, died in 2025-26.

The figure is an almost 34 per cent increase from the 4,812 people who died while waiting under the former National Priority System for home care packages in the previous year.

However, the figures are not directly comparable, because of the transition from the older system to the current one.

"Everybody on the wait list is a person; they're not a statistic or a number,"Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston said.

The Opposition said the data emerged after the federal government failed to comply with two Senate orders to produce the figures.

"Rather than fixing the system, Labor has put its energy into avoiding scrutiny. And it is older Australians and their families who are paying the price," she said.

"The extent to which the government tried to hide this information from the public is appalling. The prime minister and his ministers clearly just didn't want older Australians and their families to know the truth."

CEO of the Council on the Ageing Australia, Patricia Sparrow, described the figures as "an absolute tragedy", which demonstrated just how badly the system was keeping up with demand.

"This shouldn't be happening … there aren't enough packages in the system [and] we need to make sure people can get the package they need within about 30 days of being assessed," she said.

Ms Sparrow said when people did not get support at home for basic needs like showering or eating they could end up in hospital or be forced to move into residential aged care sooner.

"We need to make sure older people are respected … they don't put their hand up for assistance until they really need it," she said.

More than 106,000 Australians were on the official waiting list for a Support at Home place as of June 30.

The waitlist, known as the Support At Home priority system, determines how older people are prioritised for funding, and also includes people who are already receiving funding for a lower level of care, and are waiting for a higher level to be allocated.

In August, Four Corners revealed the true number of people waiting for full aged care funding at home was almost 154,000.

In May, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese conceded the state of aged care in Australia was "not good enough", after a report revealed patients were waiting an average of a year for services.

The federal government was also accused of burying that report by its political opponents, quietly dropping it during budget-lock up.

Last year, a Senate inquiry into aged care services heard from the families of people who died while waiting for support, including one Hobart man with Parkinson's and cancer who waited over 12 months for a home care package.

His package was approved three days before his death.

Independent Senator David Pocock said the data was "shocking but sadly not surprising".

"The Senate has been pushing the government hard for years to improve the care we're providing to older Australians. Time and again the aged care minister has dismissed and deflected and ultimately failed these older Australians and their families. It is unacceptable," he said.

"I am also dismayed that this data is released quietly and in a way that is hard to find. Even though it tells a grim story, older Australians and their family still deserve transparency from the government on the state of affairs."

Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said the rate of people who died waiting for Support at Home was "significantly lower than the rate of death for older Australians in the broader population".

"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," he said.

Mr Rae said while there was "more work to do" the government had delivered an additional 83,000 home care places in 2025-26, with a further 32,000 rolling out this year.