Publications on ageing and aged care

Pathways through aged care services: a first look

AIHW bulletin no. 73

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.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 21 October 2009; ISSN 1446-9820; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 965 2; AIHW cat. no. AUS 116; 24pp.; $10.00

Aged care packages in the community 2007-08: a statistical overview

Aged care statistics series no. 29

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.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 15 October 2009; ISSN 1329-5705; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 964 5; AIHW cat. no. AGE 60; 142pp.; $28.00

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.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 18 August 2009; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 946 1; AIHW cat. no. AGE 59; 66pp.; INTERNET ONLY

Incorporating HACC use into aged care pathways: a technical report for the PIAC project

Data linkage series no. 7

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.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 17 August 2009; ISSN 1833-1238; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 939 3; AIHW cat. no. CSI 7; 40pp.; INTERNET ONLY

Residential aged care in Australia 2007-08: a statistical overview

Aged care statistics series no. 28

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.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 19 June 2009; ISSN 1329-5705; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 932 4; AIHW cat. no. AGE 58; 160pp.; $30.00

Hospitalisations due to falls by older people, Australia 2005-06

Injury research and statistics series no. 50

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.

Authored by AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit.

Published 4 March 2009; ISSN 1444-3791; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 879 2; AIHW cat. no. INJCAT 122; 56pp.; $20.00

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.

Authored by Runge C, Gilham J & Peut A.

Published 28 February 2009; AIHW cat. no. AIHW 11074; 81pp.; INTERNET ONLY

Younger People with Disability In Residential Aged Care Program: final report on the 2007-08 Minimum Data Set

Disability series

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.

Authored by AIHW.

Published 16 February 2009; ISSN 1444-3589; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 890 7; AIHW cat. no. DIS 53; INTERNET ONLY

Movement from hospital to residential aged care

Data linkage series no. 6

The movement of people between acute hospital care and residential aged care has long been recognised as an important issue, but existing national data sets provide only limited information on such movement. This report presents the first comprehensive statistical results into issues affecting movement from hospital into residential aged care, using linked hospital care and residential aged care data for 2001-02. In particular, factors affecting admission into residential care on discharge from hospital are examined.

Authored by Anderson P, Karmel R & Lloyd J.

Published 26 November 2008; ISSN 1833-1238; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 858 7; AIHW cat. no. CSI 6; $32.00

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