The Hospital Dementia Services Project: a study description
The Hospital Dementia Services Project is an innovative mixed-methods study funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council to investigate how health and aged care system factors influence care outcomes for hospital patients with dementia. People with dementia have comparatively high rates of hospitalisation and longer hospital stays which has an impact on their physical and mental wellbeing. The project focuses on patients aged 50 or over who had an overnight stay in a public hospital in New South Wales during 2006-07. This publication describes the project's objectives and design features.
Identifying palliative care separations in admitted patient data: technical paper
This technical paper explores the most appropriate method of identifying those separations that occurred in Australian hospitals for which palliative care was a substantial component of the care provided. Coding and collection rules are considered, as well as national admitted patient data for 1999-00 to 2008-09.
Pathways in aged care: do people follow recommendations?
Eligibility for key aged care programs is assessed by Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATs). These teams also make recommendations on the preferred long-term setting for receiving care; that is, in the person's home or in a residential care facility. Analysis shows that there was considerable variation in care pathways within recommendation group. Rates of transition into permanent residential care varied with the use of community care and residential respite care. One-quarter of ACAT clients-including some recommended to live in residential care-did not use aged care services in the 2 years after their first assessment.
Aged care packages in the community 2009-10: a statistical overview
This report describes the key characteristics of services and recipients and also looks at the distribution of services relative to the needs of the population. At 30 June 2010 there were around 47,700 recipients of care packages. Around 1,150 providers delivered low-care packages, 370 providers delivered high-care packages and 240 providers delivered high-care specialised dementia packages.
Residential aged care in Australia 2009-10: a statistical overview
Residential aged care in Australia 2009-10 provides comprehensive statistical information on residential aged care facilities, their residents, admissions and separations, and residents' dependency levels.At 30 June 2010, there were nearly 183,000 residential aged care places, an increase of almost 3% compared with 30 June 2009.Over 83,500 permanent residents (52%) had a recorded diagnosis of dementia at 30 June 2010. Other recorded health conditions included circulatory diseases (40,000 residents) and diseases of the musculoskeletal and connective tissue (27,500 residents).
Older people leaving hospital: a statistical overview of the Transition Care Program in 2008-09
Older people leaving hospital: a statistical overview of the Transition Care Program in 2008-09 presents key statistics on the characteristics and services provided to older people who are eligible for residential aged care directly after discharge from hospital. The program aims to improve recipients' independence and functioning.At 30 June 2009 there were 2,228 places providing transitional care to older people leaving hospital. During 2008-09, around 12,600 individuals received just over 14,000 episodes of transition care.
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Dementia among aged care residents: first information from the Aged Care Funding Instrument
The Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) is a new tool to appraise the care needs of permanent residents in residential aged care facilities. The ACFI appraisal was used to identify more than 104,400 permanent residents in 2008-09 who had a diagnosis of dementia. This equates to 53% of all residents with an ACFI appraisal in this financial year. Seventy per cent of residents with a dementia diagnosis were female reflecting their overall proportion in residential care. Approximately 79% of all residents with dementia were aged 70 years and over.
Comparing an SLK-based and a name-based data linkage strategy: an investigation into the PIAC linkage
In 2005, the Institute was funded to create a linked aged care database to enable analysis of pathways through aged care services. The linkage strategy for the project involved using a Statistical Linkage Key (SLK) because of the lack of either a name or a common person identifier on the data sets being linked. This paper validates the results obtained using the SLK linkage strategy by comparing it directly with a name-based linkage strategy.
Pathways in Aged Care: program use after assessment
Analysis of care pathways provides information that is useful to both policy planners and service providers alike. The Pathways in Aged Care (PIAC) cohort study linked aged care assessment data for a cohort of 105,100 people to data sets showing use of five main aged care programs and deaths over 4 years. This report presents an overview of the PIAC cohort, investigating care needs, assessment patterns, common care pathways, time to entry to permanent residential aged care and time to death after assessment for use of aged care services.
Aged care packages in the community 2008-09: a statistical overview
At 30 June 2009, over 44,000 people were receiving help from a community aged care package, including just over 23,300 new admissions during 2008-09. The findings suggest that proportionate to their populations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and those from non-English-speaking countries used community aged care packages at a higher rate compared with other Australians.
Residential aged care in Australia 2008-09: a statistical overview
Residential aged care in Australia 2008-09: a statistical overview provides comprehensive statistical information on residential aged care facilities and services, their residents, admissions and separations, and residents' dependency levels. At 30 June 2009, there were over 178,000 residential aged care places, an increase of 1.6% compared with 30 June 2008. Almost 82,000 permanent residents (59%) had a recorded diagnosis of dementia at 30 June 2009. Other recorded health conditions affecting residents included circulatory diseases (42,000 residents) and diseases of the musculoskeletal and connective tissue (26,800 residents).
Younger People with Disability in Residential Aged Care Program: report on the 2008-09 Minimum Data Set
Younger People with Disability in Residential Aged Care Program: Report on the 2008-09 Minimum Data Set includes information from the 2008-09 younger People with Disability in Residential Aged Care Minimum Data Set (YPIRAC MDS). It summarises the characteristics of people who were 'on the books' during 2008-09 and the YPIRAC services they received.
Dementia and the take-up of residential respite care: an analysis using the PIAC cohort
In the current policy and service environment, respite care is a key service designed to provide support for carers and those they care for. Linked aged care program data for the Pathways in Aged Care (PIAC) cohort study allows analysis of the take-up of residential respite care by looking at 32,000 cohort members who had an approval of such care. This report presents detailed analysis of take-up rates and factors that affect the take-up of residential care. In particular the report investigates whether dementia, carer availability and English speaking background affect the take-up of residential care.
Dementia and the take-up of residential respite care
In the current policy and service environment respite care is a key service designed to provide support for carers and those they care for. Linked aged care program data for the Pathways in Aged Care (PIAC) cohort study allows analysis of the take-up of residential respite care by looking at 32,000 cohort members who had an approval of such care. This bulletin presents take-up rates and factors that affect the take-up of residential respite care. In particular, the bulletin investigates whether dementia, carer availability and English speaking background affect the take-up of residential respite care.
Expenditure on health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2006-07
Expenditure on health and high care residential aged care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people amounted to $2,976 million in 2006-07, or 3.1% of national expenditure on health and high care residential aged care. In 2006-07, the average expenditure per person on health and high care residential aged care was $5,696 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. For non-Indigenous people, the average expenditure per person was $4,557. The ratio of Indigenous to non-Indigenous expenditure per person was 1.25. For the Australian Government schemes of Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), total benefits paid per Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person were 59% of the amount spent on non-Indigenous people. Expenditure on health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2006-07 provides policy makers and program managers with detailed information for further analysis.
Australia's welfare 2009
Australia's welfare 2009 is the ninth biennial welfare report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative source of national information on welfare services in Australia. Topics include children, youth and families; ageing and aged care; disability and disability services; carers and informal care; housing and housing assistance; and homelessness.
Pathways through aged care services: a first look
Analysis of care pathways provides information that is useful to both policy planners and service providers alike. The Pathways in Aged Care (PIAC) cohort study linked aged care assessment data for a cohort of 105,100 people to data sets showing use of five main aged care programs and deaths over four years. Of particular interest in terms of care pathways is the smaller new-pathways cohort of 77,400 people who had not previously used aged care services that required and aged care assessment for access. This report presents the first findings from analysis of the new pathways cohort, investigating common care pathways, time to entry to permanent residential aged care and time to death after the first assessment for use of aged care services.
Aged care packages in the community 2007-08: a statistical overview
Aged care packages in the community 2007-08: a statistical overview provides information on the provision of three types of Australian Government funded aged care packages: Community Aged Care Packages, Extended Aged Care at Home packages, and Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia packages. These packages assist people who are eligible for residential aged care to remain in the community in their own homes. This report provides information on the availability of packages in Australia, the characteristics of outlets providing these packages, the care recipients at 30 June 2008 and the people who started or ceased receiving help during the year. At 30 June 2008 over 42,000 people were receiving help from an aged care package, and nearly 62,000 people had received help at some time during 2007-08.
Carers National Data Repository scoping study: final report
The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) commissioned AIHW to undertake this study to investigate and document the scope, feasibility and utility of setting up a Carers National Data Repository (CNDR). The CNDR is conceived as a way of improving the evidence available about carers using existing data which would mitigate issues arising from scattered evidence by bringing data together, standardising metadata and analysing data in more integrated ways (including through the use of data linkage) to inform important policy and research issues.
Incorporating HACC use into aged care pathways: a technical report for the PIAC project
In general, the aged care program data used in the Pathways in Aged Care (PIAC) project relating to 105,000 older Australians contain dates of service use. However, there are two complications with the Home and Community Care (HACC) data when integrating service use event data into care pathways: (a) the data available for the project only indicate quarters of service use, and (b) not all HACC agencies participate in the data collection. This report describes how these matters are being treated for the PIAC project. Using this approach 72,000 PIAC cohort members had 107,000 periods during which they were accessing HACC services over the 4 years from July 2002.
Residential aged care in Australia 2007-08: a statistical overview
Residential aged care in Australia 2007-08: a statistical overview provides comprehensive statistical information on the 2,080 residential aged care homes and their 160,250 residents at 30 June 2008. The report contains information on the capacity of residential aged care homes, their residents and resident characteristics, levels of dependency among residents, and admissions and separations. The year is particularly significant with the change over from the Resident Classification Scale to the Aged Care Funding Instrument for the appraisal and funding of residents.
Caring for oral health in Australian residential care
As the Australian population ages and more older Australians retain their natural teeth, more people living in residential aged care are developing complex oral disease and dental problems. This report shows that carers play a crucial role in helping maintain the oral health of older adults in residential aged care, including the identification and referral needed for dental care, by investigating 21 aged care facilities in three states.Three aspects of best practice were pursued: assisting the development of policies and procedures; training carers to use an oral health assessment called the Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT) and then evaluating the reliability and validity of carers' use of the OHAT; and applying an evidence-based oral health protocol for carers of dependent older adults. The OHAT was evaluated as being a reliable and valid screening tool for use among residents, including those with cognitive impairments.
Hospitalisations due to falls by older people, Australia 2005-06
This report is the second in a series of biennial reports on hospitalisations due to falls by older people in Australia. The report focuses on hospitalised falls occurring in the financial year 2005-06 and examines trends in fall-related hospitalisations over the period 1999-2006. The number of fall events resulting in hospitalisation due to injury for older Australians remains high and the rate of fall-related injury incidents is particularly high for the oldest group within this population. As in the previous report, older females accounted for most of the hospitalised fall injury cases and a third of cases had injuries to the hip and thigh. Half of all fall injury cases for people aged 65 years and older occurred in the home. Falls in residential institutions were also common. Age-standardised rates of hospitalised fall-related injury separations have increased over the seven year study period to June 2006, despite a decrease in the rate for femur fractures due to falls. The estimated total length of stay per fall injury case has also increased over the period 1999-2006, apparently influenced by increases in the number of bed-days used by episodes of fall-related follow-up care.
Transitions in care of people with dementia
This systematic review assesses the evidence on the pathways people with dementia take into and through the health and aged care system, and the implications of these transitions for the quality of life of people with dementia and their families and carers. The review focuses on four distinct areas: predictors of care transition, description of care pathways, intervention to modify care pathways, and pathways taken by special population groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Younger People with Disability In Residential Aged Care Program: final report on the 2007-08 Minimum Data Set
This report includes information from the 2007-08 Younger People With Disability in Residential Aged Care Minimum Data Set (YPIRAC MDS). It summarises the characteristics of people who were 'on the books' during 2007-08 and the YPIRAC services they received. Included in 'on the books' are people who accepted YPIRAC services in 2006-07 and continued to receive services (including monitoring only) in 2007-08, along with new starters in 2007-08.