Thank you for the opportunity via this forum to chat about the multiple problems that occur once you enter the aged care nightmare.
Nobody seems to want to tell you that you need infinite patience and a degree in research (to locate a smidgen of information to help you through). Nobody tells you of the hours you spend awake at night, trying to sort out where you might turn to, or how you might solve the problems you are experiencing.
Nobody mentions the hours and hours on hold day after day, week after week trying to contact Centrlink. Nobody tells you that once you get to speak to a Centrelink call centre person, you might be on the phone for hours, and quite a bit of that crying or fighting back tears of frustration. And the problem is not necessarily solved. I have found the call centre staff to all be nice enough, but sometimes I question the consistency of information that I have been given. Nobody tells you how much you might have to invest in tissues to mop those tears either. And incidentally, when the Centrelink person finally answers after only 40 minutes waiting time (a short wait in my experience), you get so excited, you press the wrong button on the phone and lose the call. Aaargh!
I have likened the whole aged care experience to stumbling around in the pitch dark, and suddenly you trip over something. That something may or may not be useful, but until you trip over it, you will never know about it. The fact that you have to search My Aged Care, Centrelink, Medicare, Department of Health, Social security and a myriad of other sources; rake through legislation trying to glean the smallest bit of information to try and solve your problem doesn?t seem to be mentioned. Of course if you are lucky enough to solve that problem, don?t worry, because you more than likely have a long list of other problems to solve, and you need to go through the process over and over?
There does not seem to be any other forum that I have found to discuss these issues, so thank you again for this facility. Your information always seems to be sensibly and empathetically worded and I am sure it is of help to myself and other desperate people. Thank you again.
I agree, after spending nearly 10 months trying to get a review of our means test commitment it took a letter to the Minister to get a response from Aged Care. There needs to be a serious review of the Departments proc