What industry is never punished if it advertises and is paid for services it can't provide? The aged care provider industry. This lack of scrutiny or penalty has become a crisis, made worse by the disorganisation in the Department of Health Disability and Aging, and as the toothless Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

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According to state and territory public hospital data recently reported by the ABC, there are almost 3300 elderly Australians in hospitals unable to go home because care can't be arranged, nor are there nursing home beds.

Very few of those wish, or need, nursing home care. Until the aged care provider system is radically overhauled, this year's 35 per cent increase in patients unable to leave hospital is likely to continue to increase exponentially.

This is the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of thousands of the elderly in need are not just waiting for the packages they have been assigned, but a possibly greater number can't take up those packages as there are no providers in their area. Exactly how many? It appears that this has carefully not been assessed.

Government statements are misleading. They imply that once a package is assigned, care will be available. This is rarely the case. There are not enough providers, nor do providers necessarily have the staff to give the care needed. Even when a provider is found, between 77-84 per cent of those who have managed to find providers state that the providers are unable to give the care they need.

Instead, the elderly are being increasingly advised not to be sucked into the whirlpool of the aged care system. "You'll spend months making calls that will get you nowhere", as one social worker told me last week.

There are three relatively easy, cost-effective solutions. But they depend on the government admitting that the present system doesn't work.

I've been on the aged-care fringes, not because of health problems relating to ageing, but because of a severe accidental injury at hospital a decade ago. NDIS refused to accept me: "You'll get far more care under aged care in a few years when you turn 65."

Theoretically, that is true - if the services existed. Despite 72 agencies listed last month on the government aged care website, My Aged Care, as offering care in the region where I live, only one actually does, and they not only don't take on new clients, but no longer even add clients to their waiting list.

And the other 71 providers? Four of those I called stated they had been mistakenly placed there by the department. Both Nambour and Brunswick councils were amused when I told them My Aged Care stated that they provided services in Braidwood or Araluen, NSW.

The others either stated they couldn't provide services, or were companies that from experience I know have no workers in this region, though they assure clients that they do, then vanish when those services are needed.

The department does not seem to check that providers have staff the area where they are listed, nor do they check that the services that are advertised are provided, not the quality of those services.

A few providers, including Catholic Care, do work in the Braidwood region. They are magnificent - and honest about already being overburdened and unable to take on new clients. The clients they took on years ago now need more care. Their workers are becoming burnt-out. Some probably deserve sainthood.

So far I have been assigned five aged care providers, with assurances each could provide help. One company only provided care in Queensland and Northern NSW. The second stated they were already overburdened, but would help in an emergency if they could.

The third requested that we find our own care, but pay 15 per cent of any wages to their company, and that our employees also pay 15 per cent of their wages. They exist........

© Canberra Times