Sue and Phil Dunlop, who have been married for 53 years, gave evidence together on Tuesday at the second day of the aged care royal commission's hearings in Mudgee in the NSW central west.

Mrs Dunlop, who suffers from arthritis and uses a walking stick, said she considered it important to speak out about the couple's experience.

She recounted a home care provider's attempts to ignore them, with phone messages often going unreturned and emails unanswered.

The couple, who now have a provider they are happy with, also said they had to "fight and fight" to be refunded for charges for services they hadn't received.

"I don't want other people to have to keep going through that when they just live out of town a bit," Mrs Dunlop said during an emotional hearing.

They noticed a decline in service from their previous provider, which was not named, when local management changed in mid-2018.

In December that year, after carers said they had almost rolled their car on the dirt track to the Dunlops's house in an unnamed NSW town, they were informed their package of a few hours home help a week had been suspended.

"That sort of left Sue over the Christmas period with virtually nothing," Mr Dunlop, 73, told the commission.

Their package was reinstated and then suspended again within a week after Mr Dunlop left his unloaded gun, usually kept in a safe, in a room in the house as he watched out for a fox preying on his chickens.

He said he was surprised the carers had not mentioned anything to the couple during the visit, which could have resolved their concerns, and instead contacted police.

Mr Dunlop said one coordinator had made a pertinent comment on a house visit, asking why the couple live "right out here".

"As far as she was concerned we were in the middle of nowhere," he said.

Mrs Dunlop became emotional when she described how the home they'd lived in for 42 years in the Blue Mountains had burned down and her feelings of contentment when they moved into their current property.

"But it is so so hard when you can't get any help out there," she added.

She said it was important to her to remain in her own property with her husband.

"This is what these packages were brought out for, to try and keep people in their own homes, which is a very good idea. I would hate to be in a nursing home," she said.

Over the three days, the commission is hearing from individual witnesses, government representatives, academics and aged care providers.

The royal commission's interim report was released last week ahead of the final report due in November 2020.

Australian Associated Press