Publications on ageing and aged care

Aged care packages in the community 2006-07: a statistical overview

Aged care statistics series no. 27

Aged care packages in the community 2006-07: a statistical overview presents key statistics on the provision Australian Government funded aged care packages and the characteristics of care recipients. This publication covers packages provided through the Community Aged Care Packages (CACP) program, the Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) program, and the Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACH Dementia) program. These packages provide care to people in their own homes. CACPs provide care for people eligible for at least low-level residential aged care, while EACH and EACH Dementia packages provide a higher level of care to people eligible for high-level residential aged care. The report provides detailed statistics on the sociodemographic characteristics of care recipients and the patterns of the recipients' admissions and separations. The data presented in this report are a useful resource for those involved in policy development, policy review and the planning of aged care services, with a specific interest in the provision of these packages.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 14 August 2008; ISSN 1325-6035; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 819 8; AIHW cat. no. AGE 57; 132pp.; $28.00

A picture of osteoporosis in Australia

Arthritis series no. 6

Osteoporosis is a silent condition that occurs in both men and women. The bones become fragile and brittle, and bone strength is greatly reduced, so that fractures can occur after only minimal trauma. Fractures occur most commonly in the hip, spine and wrist, and can lead to long-lasting pain and disability that affects quality of life and independence. The good news is that osteoporosis is largely preventable. This booklet is aimed at anyone with an interest in osteoporosis. It includes information on the causes, management and prevention of the disease, and brings together the latest data about its impact in Australia.

Authored by Graf J.

Published 4 August 2008; ISSN 1833-0991; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 781 8; AIHW cat. no. PHE 99; 36pp.; $10.00

Residential aged care in Australia 2006-07: a statistical overview

Aged care series no. 26

Residential aged care in Australia 2006-07: a statistical overview provides comprehensive statistical information on residential aged care homes and their residents. 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 report will be particularly useful to aged care service planners, providers of aged care services, and researchers in the field.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 12 June 2008; ISSN 1329-5705; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 791 7; AIHW cat. no. AGE 56; 124pp.; $29.00

Veterans' use of health services

Aged care series no. 13

This report uses linked aged care and Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) administrative data to examine patterns of use of DVA-funded medical and allied health services by DVA gold cardholders aged 70 years and over living in permanent residential aged care, and compare these patterns with those of gold cardholders of the same age and sex living in the community.

Authored by Anderson P & Lloyd J.

Published 25 February 2008; ISSN 1325-6025; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 755 9; AIHW cat. no. AGE 51; 180pp.; $33.00

Movement from hospital to residential aged care: preliminary results

Data linkage series no. 4

The interface between acute hospital care and residential aged care has long been recognised as an important issue in aged care services research. Current hospital and residential aged care national data sets have been designed primarily to provide data on the specific program rather than to examine program interfaces. However, using event-based data linkage it is possible to link the two data sets thereby allowing analysis of the hospital and aged care interface. This report provides preliminary results from this linkage process when applied to data for four states and two territories for 2001-02, and investigates a particular issue - the use of residential aged care for interim care following a period in hospital.

Authored by Anderson P, Karmel R & Lloyd J.

Published 21 January 2008; ISSN 1833-1238; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 747 4; AIHW cat. no. CSI 4; 68pp.; INTERNET ONLY

Older Australia at a glance (4th edition)

Australia's population is ageing and as baby boomers move into old age this trend is set to gather greater momentum over the next three decades. Significant changes will flow to all aspects of social and economic life as both the number and proportion of older people in the community increase. This fourth edition of Older Australians at a glance provides insights into the diversity of the older population of Australia, where they are living, what they are doing, how healthy they are and the services they are using.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 22 November 2007; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 732 0; AIHW cat. no. AGE 52; 224pp.; $45.00

Report on the pilot test of the community-based palliative care client data collection

This report outlines the need for a data set for community-based palliative care services that is relevant to national policy development and accountability, and provides details of a pilot test of the data set which aimed to evaluate the data items and their permissible values. This data set lays the foundation for the future agreement of a national minimum data set, which would see the collection of ongoing data about community-based palliative care clients for national collection and reporting. The data items within the draft client data set specification include items that relate to: the patient, the episode of palliative care, the episode of grief and bereavement counselling, and each service contact within these episodes.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 29 October 2007; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 714 6; AIHW cat. no. HWI 97; 106pp.; $27.00

National palliative care performance indicators: results of the 2006 performance indicator data collection

AIHW bulletin no. 54

This report presents the findings of the second national collection of performance indicator data from Australia's palliative care sector. The information collected was designed to support the calculation of four national performance indicators that were developed and agreed by representatives of the states and territories and the Australian Government on the Palliative care Intergovernmental Forum. The four performance indicators are based on the goals and objectives of the National Palliative Care Strategy and provide some information on the extent to which the Strategy has been implemented.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 3 September 2007; ISSN 1446-9820; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 719 1; AIHW cat. no. AUS 94; 28pp.; $10.00

Older Australians in hospital

AIHW bulletin no. 53

Hospital use increases with age for both admissions and length of stay. This bulletin examines patterns of hospital use among people aged 65 and over. Hospitalisation, length of stay, diagnosis, type of care and destination on discharge are examined.

Authored by Karmel R, Hales C & Lloyd J.

Published 24 August 2007; ISSN 1456 9820; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 712 2; AIHW cat. no. AUS 92; 36pp.; $10.00

Hospitalisation due to falls in older people, Australia 2003-04

Injury research and statistics series no. 32

This report examines Australian hospital data pertaining to fall injuries in people aged 65 and older in 2003-04. 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. Women are at greatest risk of fall-related injury. Fall incidents most commonly result in a fracture and hip fractures are particularly frequent. This report also highlights that a substantial proportion of fall-related injuries are injuries to the head, which may require more specifically-targeted prevention interventions. Multiple hospital separations due to a single fall incident substantially add to the burden of disease for older Australians. Separations principally involving follow-up care, rehabilitation and other fall-related conditions contributed 136% more bed-days than those occupied due to initial episodes due to fall injury incidents and brought the total number of fall-related hospital bed-days for people aged 65 and older in 2003-04 to over 1.2 million. The estimated total cost for fall-related acute care in Australian hospitals for people aged 65 and older in 2003-04 was $566.0 million. This represents a substantial proportion of the burden of disease and health expenditure for this population and suggests that the lifetime cost of falls in older people may be substantially higher than has been previously calculated.

Authored by Bradley C & Harrison J.

Published 4 July 2007; ISSN 1444-3791; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 675 0; AIHW cat. no. INJCAT 96; 81pp.; $30.00