Support at Home aged care packages are a "public policy failure" as wait times remain unacceptable, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
Former inspector general of aged care Ian Yates told a public hearing on Monday the federal government's 10-month-old program needed drastic action.
"By almost any and every measure, support at home has to be judged for public policy failure at this time," he said on Monday.
"The government is denying the problems exist despite unprecedented expert critiquing, and despite unprecedented community concern, complaint, in fact, confusion and despair."
Support at Home packages replaced an earlier program in November, and delivers government-funded aged care services to help keep older people at home for longer.
Mr Yates, who advises on public policy in ageing, said the wait list for Support at Home is huge.
"Wait times are unacceptable, even if they slowly come down a bit ... it's scandalous the government is no longer publishing numbers and wait times of tens of thousands of people on interim packages and waiting on reassessments and package reviews," he said.
"Continued rationing, which is deliberately providing less care than the government has assessed as needed, always means creating human tragedies and inequitable provision of services."
Labor announced on Thursday the Commonwealth Home Support Program, which helps older people access entry-level services to live at home safely, will be extended to mid-2029.
In a speech in Melbourne, Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said the government was not rolling the program into Support at Home as they believed it should remain "standalone".
"That is absolutely not to say we don’t want older people to have a simpler, smoother experience when moving between the two systems," he said.
"We also want to deliver on the spirit of the royal commission’s recommendation for a comprehensive program, one that delivers consistent access and availability, as well as choice and flexibility for older people."
Mr Rae said the government was aware that some providers are seeing older people on the Commonweralth Home Support Program declining Support at Home services.
"This creates bottlenecks that just aren’t in the community’s interests," he said.
"Ultimately, there are services just not well suited to individualised, package-based funding models."
The royal commission into aged care found substandard care in Australia was widespread and systemic, in addition to the sector's workers being underpaid, undervalued and insufficiently trained.
