In September/October 2002 a census of CACP packages was conducted. The report of census can be purchased or downloaded from the website.
There is some degree of overlap between data collected through administrative by-product data and that collected in the census. Material collected through the census that is not otherwise collected included:
- additional demographic details of care recipients such as availability, relationship and co-residency of carers, need for assistance in individual tasks, and severe or profound core activity limitations (self-care, mobility and communication);
- details of service episodes such as:
- the types and amounts of service provided and the influence of carer status, diagnosis of dementia, presence of severe or profound core activity restriction, living arrangements on the service provided,
- receipt of service from other government programs
- duration of care, leave, reasons for ceasing to receive service
- information on service providers: types of organisation, profit status, types of care packages provided by outlets, and the size of service outlets.
Note that the definition of an outlet used in the census differs from that used in the administrative data collection. In the administrative data collections the definition of an outlet is based on groups of allocated packages. For the CACP census an outlet is defined by the location from which the service is provided.
The CACP census data also identified 826 supplementary care recipients.
Privacy issues
A range of measures were adopted to protect the privacy of clients, and to comply with requirements applying to the AIHW, the Department and approved providers under the Aged Care Act 1997, and the Privacy Act 1988.
In addition, the confidentiality and security of data sent to the AIHW is protected under the provisions of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987 and the Privacy Act 1988. The AIHW has documented procedures, approved by its Board, covering these topics and a strong culture of ensuring data security.
Plain English information about the Privacy Act is available on the Privacy Commissioner's website.