By Steve Hadfield, AgedCareActionPlan.au · Last reviewed: 5 September 2026
Last updated: 16 October 2026
The difference between a 3-week wait and a 9-month wait isn’t when you called My Aged Care. It’s what you said when you called.
Most families don’t know this. My Aged Care doesn’t explain it in the welcome letter. No pamphlet describes it. The system processes your referral, assigns a priority, and if you didn’t describe the situation clearly enough, you may wait months longer than necessary.
There are currently over 100,000 people waiting for funded aged care services in Australia. That number explains why the system feels opaque — and why understanding how triage works is the most actionable thing you can do right now.
The median wait from referral to completed assessment was 25 days in Jan–Mar 2026, according to My Aged Care. That is the midpoint — half of people are assessed faster, half slower. Urgent cases move significantly faster. Complex situations or high referral volumes in your region may take longer.
After your referral is lodged, a Triage Delegate — a formally trained member of the assessment organisation — will contact you within 3 calendar days. This call is not a courtesy check. It is the formal mechanism by which your priority is determined. What you say in that call shapes your timeline. Most families don’t know it’s coming and aren’t ready for it. Prepare for it like it’s the assessment itself.
The call most families miss
Within 3 days of registering, a Triage Delegate will call you. Their job is to determine how urgently you need an assessment. Have specific examples ready: what your parent can’t do on a typical day, what safety concerns exist, whether there is a hospital discharge date. Vague answers produce lower priority. Specific answers produce accurate priority.
After the triage call, an assessor is assigned and a visit arranged. The assessment visit itself takes 45–75 minutes. Your Notice of Decision letter — containing your classification (1–8), support plan, and priority category — arrives within 2–4 weeks of the visit.
Important: The assessment wait and the Support at Home funding wait are two separate waits. The Notice of Decision letter is not a funding approval. After assessment, you enter a second queue — which can be considerably longer for higher classifications. The Support at Home waiting times guide covers that second wait.
The Single Assessment System — which replaced ACAT nationally from 9 December 2024 — uses urgency priority to determine assessment order. Your priority is set during the Triage Delegate call, based on the information you provide about your current situation.
This is the mechanism most families don’t know exists. And it’s the one with the most leverage.
Urgent priority applies when someone faces an immediate safety risk: hospital discharge into an unsafe home situation, acute deterioration, or significant risk of harm. High priority applies where care needs are significant but not immediately life-threatening. Medium and standard priority apply where needs are present but the home situation is stable.
Priority is not automatically assigned from a file. It is determined from the information provided during triage. If your parent is being discharged from hospital into a home that isn’t set up for their current needs, say that clearly and specifically. If the situation has deteriorated since the referral was lodged, call back and update it.
Searching for “ACAT wait times”? ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Team) was replaced by the Single Assessment System from 9 December 2024. The assessment is now called an Aged Care Needs Assessment (ACNA). In Victoria, the assessing organisation may still be called ACAS locally. The process and phone number are the same.
The Australian Government does not publish real-time state-level assessment wait data. What is known is that several structural factors create meaningful regional variation.
Assessor workforce density. Regional and rural areas have fewer assessment staff relative to population. A family in outer regional NSW may face a longer wait than one in metropolitan Melbourne — not because their needs are lower priority, but because there are fewer assessors available.
Referral volume. Higher volumes in a given period create longer queues for standard and medium priority referrals. Urgent referrals are largely protected from volume pressure.
Urgency mix. In areas with higher proportions of urgent and high priority referrals, standard priority wait times stretch out further as assessors prioritise higher-risk cases.
What this means practically: if you are in a regional area, or you have been waiting longer than expected and the situation is unchanged, call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and explain. Providing updated information is not being a nuisance — it is the mechanism the system uses to re-triage.
You do not submit a form to request urgent priority. Urgency is determined from the information you provide when you contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 to register, and confirmed by the Triage Delegate in the follow-up call within 3 days.
Current estimated wait times for Support at Home funding after assessment (separate from the assessment wait):
Funding wait: Within 30 days
Immediate safety risk — hospital discharge into unsafe home, acute deterioration, significant risk of harm at home.
Funding wait: 45–75 days
Significant care needs that are not immediately life-threatening.
Funding wait: 240–270 days
Moderate care needs. Home situation is stable.
Funding wait: Published at myagedcare.gov.au
Lower assessed needs. Longest wait category.
Source: Australian Ageing Agenda / DoHAC Senate response, April 2026. Assessment wait (median 25 days) is separate from and precedes these funding wait times.
When you call 1800 200 422:
If your parent is currently in hospital: Do not wait until discharge to register. Ask the hospital social worker or discharge planner today. They can make the referral directly, add clinical documentation, and flag discharge pressure — all of which support urgent priority classification.
You can self-refer — a GP referral is not required. Anyone can call My Aged Care directly. The assessment is free.
If you need advocacy support navigating the process, the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) can assist: 1800 700 600.
The waiting period feels passive. It isn’t. What you do in this window directly affects the quality of your assessment outcome.
Write down what’s actually happening. The assessment covers everyday life at home, including memory, moving around, personal care and housework. For most everyday tasks, the assessor records how much help is needed and who gives it. Before the visit, make notes about one ordinary week. Write down what the person did alone, what they needed help with, and who helped.
Note the good-day / bad-day difference. Many older people present better on the day of the assessment than they function day-to-day. If there’s a meaningful gap, document both. The assessor needs the range, not just the peak.
Gather supporting documentation. GP letters, specialist reports, hospital discharge summaries, medication lists. These can be provided to the assessor and support the classification outcome.
For what the assessment asks and how each answer is recorded, see the IAT user guide, explained.
Yes — and this is the most effective lever available. Ask the hospital social worker or discharge planner to make or supplement the referral to My Aged Care. Hospital staff make these referrals routinely and can provide clinical documentation (discharge summary, functional assessment, safety concerns) that supports urgent or high priority classification. If a referral is already lodged, ask the hospital team to contact My Aged Care to add clinical context. Discharge pressure is a recognised urgency indicator.
Call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and explain that the situation has changed since the referral was lodged. The assessing organisation can update the triage status based on new information. Do not wait for the scheduled visit if the situation has materially deteriorated — call and describe specifically what has changed.
ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Team) was the previous assessment body, replaced nationally from 9 December 2024 by the Single Assessment System. The assessment is now formally called an Aged Care Needs Assessment (ACNA). In Victoria, the assessing organisation may still be referred to as ACAS. The process and the My Aged Care entry point are the same regardless of the local name used.
Not immediately. After you call My Aged Care, a Triage Delegate will contact you within 3 days to determine your priority. An assessor is then assigned and a visit arranged. The 25-day median is from referral to assessment completion — not a confirmed booking date. If you haven't been contacted after 6 days, call My Aged Care to follow up.
Two completely separate waits. The assessment wait is from registering with My Aged Care to completing the assessment — median 25 days. After the visit, the Notice of Decision letter is not a funding approval. There is a second, separate wait for funded Support at Home services: urgent priority within 30 days, high priority 45–75 days, medium priority 240–270 days. The Support at Home waiting times guide covers that second wait in full. If you are at that stage, that's the page you need next.
An assessment coming up? Make sure the assessor hears the full picture.
Our free tool helps you put what you see day to day into a written statement, in your own words, to bring to the assessment. Independent — no sales calls.
Prepare for the assessment — free →This guide is for information only — not legal, medical, or financial advice. Support at Home operates under the Aged Care Act 2024 and Aged Care Rules 2025. Check myagedcare.gov.au for current rates and rules.