MS clients face higher costs after Australian provider ends home-care service

People with multiple sclerosis in Western Australia face higher costs and possible loss of essential home care after MSWA announced it would stop providing a Commonwealth-funded Support at Home service. The decision affects 76 clients, including 16 in regional areas. MSWA said changes introduced under the federal government’s aged-care reforms had increased administrative and regulatory demands to a level that made the programme unsustainable.

Marlene Robinson, 80, has lived with multiple sclerosis for 30 years and relies on support workers to help her out of bed, shower and dress. She said she did not know how she would manage without the service. Her husband, Michael Robinson, 86, said the support enabled her basic daily needs to be met.

MSWA charges $60 an hour for weekday personal care, compared with a market average of about $125, according to the supplied material. Clients moving to another provider could therefore face a substantial increase. Robinson estimated that maintaining the same level of care would cost an additional $1,000 from her own funds.

MSWA chief executive Melanie Kiely said the organisation was not abandoning clients and would continue its specialist neurological services. She said it planned to assist people in moving to partner providers, while acknowledging the distress caused by the change. Catherine Stoddart of Advanced Ageing WA warned that additional compliance work could threaten smaller providers.

She said 31 minutes of administrative work were spent for every hour of care, reducing the time available to clients. A spokesperson for Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said the government was monitoring the rollout and that its reforms were intended to improve provider accountability, oversight and price transparency. Robinson and her husband are considering whether she can remain at home or move into residential care.