Vale Cyril Tooze: The face behind the figures

This week, after courageously going public with his experience on the delayed home care wait list, 86-year-old Mr Cyril Tooze, passed away.

National Seniors Australia (NSA) became aware of Cyril’s plight after his story was made public thanks to Independent Member for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie.

Standing up for the man who no longer could, Rebekha shed light on Cyril’s case as the parliamentary debate into the Aged Care Bill took place.

Cyril, who was terminally ill, was initially given a nine month wait time to receive home care support, despite needing and meeting the highest needs.

When increasing demand and workforce shortages extended the wait time further, and after a lengthy stay in hospital following a fall at home, Cyril applied to end his life under South Australia’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Scheme.

That an individual chose to end his life while waiting to receive home care support is devastating. No one should ever be in this position and be compelled to make this decision. What makes Cyril’s story even more heart wrenching is that he was a carpenter, a musician, and a husband who cared for his wife until she died. In later life, he became a carer and didn’t retire until the age of 81.

To know the care Cyril so generously gave throughout his life, was not afforded to him towards the end of his, is maddening.

It did not have to be this way.

October – the same month we learned of Cyril’s plight, marked six years since the establishment of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. During NSA’s appearances before the Commission, we described the crisis with the home care wait list as a “running sore” with more than 128,000 older Australians waiting for much needed support at home.

As we outlined in a previous Connect article, while the wait list has steadily decreased since June 2019, wait times have shot up again since 2023, with more than 76,000 older Australians now waiting for home care support.

The waitlist for home care packages has surged within the past sixteen months with around 47,000 more people on the wait list since June 2023. For those approved for a Level 4 package, they can expect to wait between 12 – 15 months.

The services and workforce needed to meet this demand must grow, especially if the government is to once again meet its own three-month target from 2027.

The government achieved one to three months in early 2023, it can do it again – if it releases additional packages and has the workforce to deliver them. That’s why NSA continues to call for an exemption from the Age Pension Means Test, including for pensioners who work in the care sector, as one solution to help retain experienced staff.

As the Royal Commission heard all those years ago, many people died waiting to receive home care support.

As outrage and anger rose, everyone agreed it shouldn’t happen; we can and must do better. Six years down the track, we are having the same conversation, about the same situation.

This time, we have a name – Mr Cyril Tooze. This time, we have a face – a bruised and sunken reminder of the deterioration and fragility of what can happen during a precarious wait.

Granted, while some improvements to aged care have been made, they haven’t come fast enough for the 76,000 people still waiting for home care support.

They didn’t come fast enough for Cyril. We must ensure the face behind the figures has not died in vain. We must ensure those he represents receive the care and support they deserve and which we all expect.

NSA is grateful to Cyril for sharing his story and appreciates Ms Sharkie’s advocacy with the aim of ensuring home care receives sufficient resources, to reduce and avoid such lengthy delays.

Vale Mr Cyril Tooze.