Almost 156,000 Australians received disability support services
funded under the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement
in the first six months of 2003, a new report published by the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has found.
Disability Support Services 2002-03 is the first AIHW
report based on the redeveloped Commonwealth State/Territory
Disability Agreement National Minimum Data Set (CSTDA NMDS)
collection. Unlike previous reports which focused on 'snapshot'
data from a single day, this report focuses on all service users
during the first six months of 2003.
The 156,000 users of disability support services accessed
services provided by more than 10,000 service type outlets
nation-wide. There were five main service type groupings provided
by these outlets - accommodation support, community support,
community access, respite and employment services.
Just over a quarter of service users (26%) accessed more than
one service type outlet over the six months. The most common
combination of services accessed over the six-month period was that
of accommodation support and community access services.
In other findings, 59% of service users were male and 3.2%
identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. The most
commonly reported primary disability group was intellectual,
reported by 44% of all service users, followed by physical (14%)
and psychiatric disabilities (12%).
Report co-author Phil Anderson said that for the first time, the
2002-03 CSTDA NMDS collected information about informal carers
which is the subject of a new chapter in the report.
'Around 44% of service users indicated that they had an informal
carer-an unpaid carer such as a family member, friend or neighbour,
providing care and assistance on a regular, sustained basis,' Dr
Anderson said.
'Younger service users were much more likely to report having a
carer, with 77% aged under 15 years and 48% aged 15-24 years having
a carer, compared to 28-36% of service users in other age
groups.'
Dr Anderson said those people with an informal carer required
much greater assistance in activities of daily living, including
self-care, mobility or communication.
'39% reported always needing support with such activities
compared with 21% without carers. And more than four-fifths with
informal carers reported that their carer assisted them with at
least one of these activities.'
Just over two-thirds (68%) of informal carers were reported to
be the mother of a service user, much higher than the second most
commonly reported relationship - fathers (6%).
The highest proportion of carers was in the 25-44 year age group
(41%), followed by 45-64 years (32%). A further 10% of carers were
aged over 65 years.
25 November 2004
Further information: Phil Anderson, AIHW, tel.
02 6244 1125, mobile 0419 240 353.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Disability Support Services
2002-03: the first six months of data from the Commonwealth
State/Territory Disability Agreement National Minimum Data
Set, November 2004.