Wife and carer 'dumbfounded' by husband's aged care assessment

Graham Crossan and his wife Gaynor have lost an appeal for higher levels of funding. (ABC News: Kyle Harley)

Graham Crossan is 80 and has late-stage motor neurone disease, but has lost an appeal for higher support funding.

His wife Gaynor was shocked at the decision, which made by a new assessment tool introduced last year.

Critics say the federal government's Integrated Assessment Tool is failing older people, with a large number of complaints received.

Melbourne man Graham Crossan, 80, relies on his wife Gaynor to help him eat, move and even breathe.

Mr Crossan is severely incapacitated with late-stage motor neurone disease (MND) and his 79-year-old wife is his primary, and often only, carer.

Because he is over 65, Mr Crossan cannot access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), but receives some funding through the federal government's My Aged Care program.

Last November, the federal government began using an algorithm, the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), to determine aged care support.

Mr Crossan was told he would need a new assessment and expected to receive the highest level of at-home care.

Graham Crossan cannot access the NDIS because he is over 65. (ABC News: Kyle Harley)

But the algorithm deemed him ineligible for higher funding, and the results could not be overridden by a human.

The couple appealed the decision, submitting a new report from a senior occupational therapist specialising in progressive neurological diseases, which supported his need for more help as the disease progressed.

Last month, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing again knocked him back.

"They declined our request for review. They felt the initial assessment was correct," Mrs Crossan said.

Gaynor Crossan says she spends all her time looking after her husband, leaving little time to care for herself. (ABC News: Kyle Harley)

"Quite honestly, I don't know what else would make them change their minds," Mrs Crossan said.

"He uses a [ventilator] between 22 and 23 hours a day … he will die if that ventilator malfunctions or is not being applied in a suitable way.

"He needs at least two people to lift him. He cannot support himself.

The Crossans's local federal member, Kooyong MP Monique Ryan, said it was the worst example she had seen of what she described as "robo aged care".

"The amount of financial support that his carer, his wife, is able to receive is manifestly inadequate for his needs," Dr Ryan told the ABC.

"But what's going to happen, unless we can get some progress on his case, is he's going to have to move out of his home into