20/08/2026
Aged Care Wait Times Report Explained: April-June 2026
Read the second statutory aged care wait times report correctly, including Support at Home and residential medians and the limits of the measure.
Short answer: the second statutory report, published on 11 August 2026, measures historical time elapsed from an application through My Aged Care to the start of an aged care service. For the 1 April to 30 June 2026 reporting period, the median was 297 days for ongoing Support at Home, 14 days for the End-of-Life Pathway, 138 days for ongoing residential care, and 100 days for short-term residential care.
These figures are not a current promised wait time for a new applicant. They also are not directly comparable with My Aged Care reporting that starts the clock at approval or allocation rather than at application.
The Quarter 4 figures at a glance
| Measure in the second statutory report | Quarter 4 result | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Applications awaiting a triage decision at quarter end | 14,382 applications | A count at 30 June 2026, not a number of waiting days |
| All non-specialist aged care applications | Median 255 days | Historical application-to-service commencement time across the included non-specialist pathways |
| Ongoing Support at Home | Median 297 days | Historical application-to-ongoing-service commencement time for the reported cohort |
| Support at Home End-of-Life Pathway | Median 14 days | Historical application-to-pathway-service commencement time for the reported cohort |
| Ongoing residential care | Median 138 days | Historical application-to-ongoing-residential-service commencement time |
| Short-term residential care | Median 100 days | Historical application-to-short-term-residential-service commencement time |
The reporting period is Quarter 4 of 2025-26: 1 April to 30 June 2026. Always include the period, pathway, median label, and full metric definition when quoting a result.
Why 297 days is not a current service promise
The report looks backwards at completed journeys and measures the entire elapsed period from application through My Aged Care to service commencement. It can include stages before assessment or approval as well as the period before a service starts.
It therefore cannot tell one person how long they will wait from today. Priority, pathway, assessment status, funding, service availability, location, preferences, and individual circumstances may differ. Use My Aged Care or the relevant assessment organisation for an individual status question.
Do not compare different clocks
Some My Aged Care information describes time from approval, priority or funding allocation to access. The statutory report starts at application and ends when a service commences. A number from one measure should not be placed beside a number from the other as if they track the same journey.
A responsible citation should say: 'In the April-June 2026 statutory report, the historical median application-to-service commencement time for ongoing Support at Home was 297 days.' Do not shorten that into a claim that 297 days is the current wait.
Earlier Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 figures were revised
The second report revises the Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 results that were published in the first report and says the results in the second report supersede them. Do not continue copying an earlier table without checking the latest report.
For content governance, keep the report title, publication date, reporting period, checked date, and a correction note beside any reused statistic. If the Department publishes a later revision, update or withdraw the affected statement rather than silently changing its meaning.
Privacy and individual enquiries
Do not paste a person's health information, assessment notes, priority rating, contact details, or My Aged Care identifiers into a public page, general spreadsheet, or AI prompt. Public statistics cannot determine an individual's entitlement, priority or start date.
This guide is general public information, not an individual waiting-time estimate and not legal, financial, clinical, eligibility, funding, service-placement, or professional advice.
Frequently asked questions
Does the report say a new Support at Home applicant will wait 297 days?
No. The 297-day result is a historical median for the reported cohort and measures application to commencement of ongoing Support at Home. It is not a promise or forecast for a new applicant.
What does the figure 14,382 mean?
It is the number of applications awaiting a triage decision at the end of the quarter. It is not a median or average number of days.
Can I compare 297 days with an approval-to-funding estimate?
Not directly. The statutory report begins at application and ends at service commencement. Approval-to-funding reporting uses different start and end points.
Why might numbers for Quarter 2 or Quarter 3 differ from an older article?
The second report revised the previously published Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 results and supersedes those earlier results. Cite the latest report and show the checked date.
Where should an individual ask about their application?
Use My Aged Care or the assessment organisation handling the person's application. Do not infer an individual status or priority from these population-level results.
Disclaimer
These resources are provided for general operational documentation and educational purposes only. They do not constitute legal, clinical, medical, compliance, or professional advice. Organisations should review and adapt all documents according to their own policies, procedures, registration requirements, funding arrangements, and regulatory obligations.