Fears vulnerable people will be isolated after cut to groups which connect volunteers with those in residential or community care

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Community groups that visit ageing Australians to alleviate loneliness say changes to a federal government scheme have stripped them of funding and threaten their ability to continue operating.

The federally funded Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) connects volunteers with those in residential aged care or community care to reduce social isolation. It’s a crucial service to help vulnerable and lonely residents, many of whom have no one else to visit them.

But groups such as the Springwood Neighbourhood Centre Co-operative and Katoomba Neighbourhood Centre in the New South Wales Blue Mountains say they were informed just before Christmas they had lost 60% of their funding for 2019.

The overall funding for the scheme has not changed, but the federal government this year ran a competitive tender process to award it to community groups for the first time since CVS began in 1992. The aim was to refresh the program, reward “high-performing providers” and place an increased focus on community care visits, rather than residential care. But the changes have created huge uncertainty.

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The executive officer of the Springwood centre, Toni Quigley, said the loss of funding meant the centre could no longer visit about 50 residential care clients.

Quigley said there was no indication the money the centre had lost was going to any other service in the Blue Mountains. She fears significant gaps will be created, leaving the most vulnerable ageing Australians alone and isolated.

“It’s a huge amount,” she said. “For us, it means that we have to look at do we continue the service? Do we stop it altogether, or do we just deliver a very, very small number of services?

“I’ve spoken to other coordinators from other services who are down on the plains and they’ve had to say ‘well, right we can’t do anything with this money’. They’re virtually either closing down the service altogether or they’ve got one volunteer or one client.

“If it was allocated to another service in the Mountains as opposed to somewhere else, we might be less up in arms than we are currently. We’ve had to notify our staff that the likelihood is, come the new year, certainly by February, they will have to lose their position altogether or lose some of their hours.”

Labor’s spokeswoman on ageing, Julie Collins, has written to the aged care minister, Ken Wyatt, to express concern about the changes.

Wyatt has now asked the department to review the grants process to ensure it has been properly implemented. A spokesman has also assured that both the Springwood and Katoomba centres will not lose their funding.

Wyatt said he would also ensure other groups could access transitional funding. He said no gaps in services would be created for existing clients.

“Rest assured, people will continue receiving their regular community visitor services, including during the important Christmas and New Year period,” he said.

“The welfare of senior Australians benefiting from the Community Visitors Scheme visits is paramount, so I have asked the Department of Health to review the grants process, to ensure the tender has been properly implemented.”

Collins, who has been contacted by multiple groups expressing concern at the changes, described it as a “shocking betrayal of lonely older Australians on the eve of Christmas”.

“Some of these organisations have been training and placing volunteers since this program’s inception almost 30 years ago.”

Collins called on Scott Morrison to intervene immediately.

Wyatt said overall funding for the program was increasing over the forward estimates.