Aged care waiting times in 2026: every wait, with current figures

Every wait at a glance

Each step has its own wait. These are the latest official figures. Most are medians: half of people waited less, half waited longer.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: wait times report, April to June 2026

The first wait: getting assessed

Nothing government-funded starts without an aged care assessment (many hospitals still call it ACAT). After you apply, My Aged Care says an assessment organisation usually calls within 2 to 6 weeks to confirm needs and book a time, and the decision can take up to 2 weeks after the visit.

In April to June 2026, 140,028 assessments were completed and the national median from referral to assessment was 26 days. In Victoria in January to March 2026, the median was 1 day in hospital, where assessments are prioritised so people can be discharged safely, and 35 days for a comprehensive assessment at home.

The wait depends on how urgent the application is marked, the type of assessment and how many assessors work in your area. What you can do:

• Explain the urgency when you apply, with specifics: falls, a carer who cannot keep going, a recent hospital stay.
• Apply before a crisis. Every later wait is counted from the day of application.
• If the person is in hospital, ask the hospital staff to arrange the assessment before discharge.

Read more in how the assessment works and how to register with My Aged Care.

Source: My Aged Care: preparing for your assessment (wait times)

Support at Home: the funding queue

Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. Approval does not mean services start straight away. Ongoing funding is released through the Support at Home Priority System, based on the person's priority category and the date of their approval.

The assessor sets the priority category (urgent, high, medium or standard) from what they learn about the person's needs, living arrangements and circumstances. It is in the decision letter.

Between 1 April and 30 June 2026, 131,017 ongoing places were released. At 30 June 2026, 106,977 people were waiting for an ongoing Support at Home place.

Interim funding

When waits run longer than expected, people may be given interim funding: 60% of their approved budget, so the most important services can start. The other 40% follows when funding becomes available, and it is not backdated. Urgent-priority people get full funding within 1 month instead, and the short-term pathways are always fully funded.

Pathways with no waitlist

Once approved, the Restorative Care Pathway (short-term therapy to regain independence) and the End-of-Life Pathway (for people with 3 months or less to live) are funded immediately. Equipment and home modifications have their own priority systems, so that funding can arrive before or after ongoing funding. Each service starts when its own funding is allocated, so you do not have to wait for all of them.

When the funding letter arrives

From the date of the letter there are 56 days to sign a service agreement with a provider and start services, and My Aged Care can extend this by another 28 days. If nothing starts in time, the funding is withdrawn and offered to the next person, and you call My Aged Care to rejoin the queue.

If the person is not ready for services, tell the assessor or My Aged Care so their status is set to "not seeking services". They can switch back at any time. See Support at Home budgets and classifications.

Source: My Aged Care: assessment outcome for Support at Home

Aged care homes: no queue for a place, but a wait for a room

Since 1 November 2025, residential care places are assigned directly to each person once they are approved. The place does not expire, and it moves with the person. Aged care homes no longer need a government allocation of places to take government-funded residents.

So the wait is practical rather than bureaucratic: finding a home that suits, with a room when you need it.

In April to June 2026, the national median from applying through My Aged Care to moving in permanently was 138 days (about 5 months), but the average was 356 days. The Wait Times Report says many people move in within 3 to 5 months, while a smaller group takes much longer, often by choice. About 23% of the people who moved in that quarter had first received home care under the same approval.

Measured from approval rather than application, the Productivity Commission reported a median of 162 days to entry in 2024-25, with 38.9% of people entering within 3 months of their approval.

Homes are close to full. An industry survey put occupancy at 96.1% in metropolitan areas and 95.2% nationally in the March 2026 quarter (StewartBrown), leaving out beds that are offline. The Department's own occupancy measure, based on all operational places, was 91.4% nationally in January to March 2026.

Hospitals feel this first. In mid 2026, 302 patients in Victorian hospitals were waiting for aged care, up from 226 a year earlier, and more than 3,600 nationally (NSW Government, September 2026).

Two practical steps: contact several homes rather than waiting on one, and start the means assessment with Services Australia early, because it takes time and is the only way to know exactly what the person will pay. See how to choose an aged care home and what aged care costs.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: allocation of residential care places (places to people)

Where you live changes the wait

The Wait Times Report also breaks waits down by state and region. These figures cover all the services in the report together (mostly Support at Home), from application to the first day of service, for people who started in April to June 2026.

Within Melbourne, Southern Metro had the shortest median and Eastern Metro the longest. These are waits for services to start, not for a particular aged care home.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: wait times report, April to June 2026

Why the official figures look so long

The Wait Times Report measures elapsed time from the day someone applies to the day services start, and the Department deliberately calls it elapsed time rather than waiting time. Much of it is not queueing. It includes time spent deciding, comparing providers, waiting for a preferred home or a provider who speaks the person's language, sorting out legal documents or guardian consent, or simply not needing care yet.

Some people starting services applied years earlier, which pushes averages up. That is why the median is a better guide to a typical experience than the average.

My Aged Care's Support at Home estimates measure something different again: the time from approval to funding allocation. The two sets of figures are not directly comparable.

The first report (published 12 May 2026) included reassessments. The second report, published 11 August 2026, removed them and revised the earlier quarter. On the revised basis, the national median for November 2025 to March 2026 was 300 days for all services and 125 days for permanent entry to an aged care home. Figures from the first report that still circulate online are out of date.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: wait times report, April to June 2026

What to do while you wait

Help at home now

The Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) gives entry-level help such as cleaning, meals, transport and social support. New clients waiting for Support at Home funding can use CHSP services in the meantime if they have approved CHSP referrals (but not CHSP equipment or home adjustments), and current CHSP clients keep their services until Support at Home starts. Ask the assessor about this. The CHSP has been extended to 30 June 2029 and is staying a separate program. See the CHSP explained.

A break for the carer

Residential respite gives up to 63 subsidised days in an aged care home each financial year, planned or emergency, which can be extended by 21 days at a time with the assessor's approval. It needs an assessment approval, and the median from application to a first stay was 100 days in April to June 2026, so ask about respite at the assessment and book dates early. Approval does not guarantee a bed, and not every home takes respite residents.

Residential respite costs the basic daily fee only, at most $68.93 a day (as at 20 September 2026), with no means testing and no room payment.

For emergency respite at home, in the community or in an aged care home, call Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737. In an emergency, residential respite may be possible before an assessment, with the home arranging an urgent one.

After a hospital stay

Transition care offers up to 12 weeks of short-term care after hospital, extendable by up to 6 weeks, at home, in the community or in an aged care home. The assessment has to happen while the person is still in hospital. The most a provider can charge is $14.19 a day at home or $68.93 a day in a residential setting (as at 20 September 2026), and access does not depend on ability to pay.

Paying privately

Services that are not government-funded, such as cleaning, gardening, transport, nursing or therapy, can bridge the gap while funding comes through. They are not subsidised, and most are not regulated by the Australian Government. My Aged Care lists directories that can help you find them.

Keep notes of dates, names and reference numbers, and check the My Aged Care Online Account. If you feel stuck, the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) gives advocacy at no cost on 1800 700 600.

Source: My Aged Care: respite care

If things get worse while you wait

A place in the queue is not fixed if the situation changes, for example after a fall, a hospital stay or a carer who can no longer cope.

1. Tell the assessment organisation, or call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422, and ask what urgent help is possible. When there is a significant risk of harm, some home support services can start before the assessment is done.
2. Ask for a Support Plan Review. If needs have changed significantly, the assessor arranges a reassessment, which can change the classification and the priority category.
3. If you disagree with the priority category or classification in the decision letter, raise it. The letter explains how, and you can ask for an internal review within 28 days of receiving it.
4. For a carer emergency, call Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 for emergency respite. For a medical emergency, call 000.

People living with motor neurone disease that is recorded at their assessment go into the urgent category for ongoing Support at Home and the immediate category for equipment and home modifications, so their full funding arrives within a month.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: how the Support at Home program works