A new report released today by the Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW) examines older people's use of seven
government-funded aged care programs, from initial program
assessment to death.
The report, Pathways through aged care services: a first
look, found that people vary considerably in what care
programs they use and when, following assessment.
'The aged care sector within Australia is very complex, with a
wide range of services available to older people in need of
assistance,' said Dr Phil Anderson, Head of the AIHW's Data Linkage
Unit.
The report looked at data from a group of 77,000 people who had
an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) assessment in 2003-04 and who had not previously used services
which required assessment for access.
Over half of the group had, however, previously used services
provided through the Home and Community Care or Veterans' Home Care
programs, neither of which require an ACAT assessment.
The report found that within two years of assessment, over 10%
of people had accessed a Community Aged Care Package (CACP), and
just over 40% had been admitted to permanent residential care at
least once.
'Interestingly, the report found that an assessment did not
always result in the use of a program,' Dr Anderson said.
Almost 25% of people had not accessed any aged care programs
within two years of their initial assessment.
'And, for some people, the ACAT assessments seemed to be a way
of getting information about community care programs that did not
require an assessment for access,' Dr Anderson said.
'For example, the Home and Community Care and Veterans' Home
Care programs, which don't need an ACAT assessment to access, were
used by just over one-fifth of the group after their
assessment-and before programs that
require assessment,' he said.
The report also shows the use of care programs increases over
time, with the move to residential care being particularly
noticeable.
Around 38% of people still alive two years after assessment were
in permanent residential aged care, compared with 20% who were in
residential aged care 6 months after assessment.
Some people use several care programs at a time to meet their
care needs. Nearly 8% of those who were still alive six months
after assessment were receiving a CACP, and nearly 30% of these
were also using services from other programs.
Wednesday 21 October 2009
Further information: Dr Phil Anderson, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1125, mob. 0417 881 017
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. (02) 6244 1032.
Pathways through aged care services: a first look.
Report summaryFull
report