The latest report by the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare, Developing Quality Measures for Home and Community
Care (HACC), describes the successful development of an
Instrument to measure the performance of HACC agencies against the
27 HACC National Service Standards.
The HACC National Service Standards were developed by
Commonwealth, State and Territory HACC Officials through a process
of community consultation and have been in place since 1989. Until
now there has been no formal system to measure the quality of HACC
agencies' performance against these standards.
Institute staff refined and tested ways of implementing an
assessment tool drafted by the Commonwealth, State and Territory
HACC Officials. Close to 200 HACC funded agencies participated in
the project undertaken by the AIHW. Consumers also provided
feedback about the services they received.
According to the report's author, Dr Anne Jenkins, the
Instrument will be used to collect quantitative data about HACC
services such as: home delivered meals, home nursing, transport or
centre respite care.
'It gives service providers the opportunity to relate the
standards to the individual circumstances of their agencies.
Flexibility in assessment is critical given the wide range of
services provided under HACC,' Dr Jenkins said.
'This new system means that it is now possible to summarise the
performance of the diverse range of HACC funded agencies against
the standards on a common scale and describe the performance of
agencies against each of the standards.
'Australia led the way in nursing home regulation in the late
1980's when we introduced the nursing home outcome standards
monitoring program. This is another important step by State,
Territory, and Commonwealth Government in seeking to ensure that
the quality of care provided in Australia is of a high standard' Dr
Jenkins said.
The project was undertaken in consultation with the
Commonwealth, States and Territories. The assessment Instrument is
expected to be introduced nationally in the current financial
year.
Developing Quality Measures for Home and Community Care
is the fourth in the AIHW's Aged Care Series which analyses and
describes key aspects of Australia's aged care services.
23 October 1998
Further information: Dr Anne Jenkins, Aged Care
Unit, AIHW, ph. 02 6244 1173.
For media copies of the report: Ms Lena Searle,
ph. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for details.