I am 78 years old and previously attended a local community health centre for treatment of injuries, physio and the like.
However, since the introduction of My Aged Care, I am unable to do this. Continue reading
Policy areas
Isolated carer struggles to get a break
I am the sole carer for my terminally ill Australian husband (78). I am also new to Australia. Being “new” brings a whole string of problems: what to do, where to go, how to fill out the staggering stack of mandatory forms etc., etc.
I have been totally isolated for the past year with no “respite break” whatsoever and with no family or friends the strain on me is unimaginable! Continue reading
Delays, shortages complicate in-home care
While the Government is quick to push the concept of living longer, living better and remaining at home for as long as possible, it has failed in forward planning and budgeting to allow this to happen. Continue reading
War injury payment eroded
My father receives a disability payment from Veterans Affairs for an injury received due to service in the Australian Armed Services.
The Department of Human Services are taking a large portion to pay for his aged care due to his age-induced dementia. Continue reading
Why not pay families to care?
I care for my mum who is 99 years of age. I was assessed and rejected for a carer’s payment. I only receive a carers allowance from the Government.
Yet my mum can get services from an aged care provider who charge us a fee of $95-110 for a home visit from a physio for (a visit of) under half hour, plus an administration fee of $300 to maintain my mum’s file. Continue reading
Funding not hitting the right targets
Many nursing home providers are reducing the number of Registered Nurses and replacing them with less skilled experienced and less qualified staff.
Federal politicians seem to believe putting millions of dollars into the aged care system solves the level and quality of care being delivered to nursing home residents. Continue reading
Why no NDIS for over-65s?
Why are the over 65s not able to belong to NDIS? We are just as important as the under 65s.
We need to be able to afford to buy mobility scooters and wheelchairs in order to be more independent and be able to get out of the house more often. Continue reading
State and territory government policies and services
Each of Australia’s states and territories has a number of policies and services for older and infirm citizens. Below are the links to a selection of official policies and services in each jurisdiction.
Queensland
- Aged care
- Design guidelines for Queensland residential aged care facilities
- Queensland: an age-friendly community
- Legal frameworks for the use of restrictive practices in residential aged care: an analysis of Australian and international jurisdictions (Office of the Public Advocate)
New South Wales
Australian Capital Territory
- Residential aged care facility placement from hospital
- Policy and plans
- ACT elder abuse prevention program policy
Victoria
- Aged care
- Ageing and aged care
- Policy and initiatives
- Improving care for older people: a policy for health services
- Public sector residential aged care services
- Residential aged care services
Tasmania
- Older persons
- Policies, procedures and guidelines (generic; aged and disabled policies among them)
- Tasmanian carer action plan
- Tasmanian carer policy
- Younger people in residential aged care program
- Tasmanian palliative care policy framework 2017-2021
South Australia
- Aged care assistance
- Getting help at home
- Aged care and retirement housing
- My Aged Care and why it’s changing
Northern Territory
Western Australia
- HACC – Home and community care program
- Home and community care program manual
- Western Australia’s HACC transition
- Changes to Western Australia’s home care services
- Find an aged care health service
Conversation starter
Have you – or anyone you have cared for – experienced issues with State or Territory governments, either in relation to policies or services? What were the consequences of those policy or service issues? Were you able to resolve those issues? How were you supported through this process?
Federal Government policies
The Federal Government publishes a number of resources online that explain how aged care options, regulations and reforms are working.
These include:
• ‘Caring for the elderly’ – an overview of aged care support and services in Australia
Conversation starter
How easy have you or someone for whom you care found navigating your way through aged care options? Did you have good access to sources of timely information and advice? Have you or someone for whom you care advocated for change as part of the Federal Government’s aged care reform process? What were your experiences?
Aged care quality indicators
The Federal Government Department of Health, through its Ageing and Aged Care unit, has established the National Aged Care Quality Indicator Program with three initial quality indicators for residential aged care. These look at performance around:
- pressure injuries
- use of physical restraint
- unplanned weight loss.
To be – and remain – an accredited provider, aged care facilities must meet benchmarks across four standards:
- Management systems, staffing and organisational development
- Health and personal care
- Care recipient lifestyle
- Physical environment and safe systems.
On the other hand, care provided in a person’s home or in the community is measured against three standards:
- Effective management
- Appropriate access and service delivery
- Service user rights and responsibilities.
In addition, there are two flexible aged care program standards for Indigenous elders:
- Care delivery and information
- Management and accountability.
However, after reviewing the sector’s quality indicators, The University of Sydney and UNSW researchers have called for a review of aged care policy and the establishment of a “robust and comprehensive” aged care quality data system.
Speaking to Australian Ageing Agenda, they cautioned that understanding the connections between clinical indicators, the care needs of a facility’s residents, and the perceptions of clients and staff were “crucial”, having demonstrated a complex relationship among these factors in their analysis.
They reviewed data collected from 426 facilities between 2015 and 2016 covering five commonly gathered clinical indicators of care quality: falls, pressure injury, physical restraint, unplanned weight loss and polypharmacy. Only the last factor was regularly reported.
Conversation starter
Do you – or someone for whom you care – feel that the Federal Government’s aged care quality indicators already in place are sufficient to achieve a “robust and comprehensive” assessment of residential, in-home or community care?
NDIS for younger people in aged care
Governments have said they will spend an extra $11 billion a year on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
But many people under the age of 65 years residing in aged care facilities may miss out on receiving support due to communication barriers, a lack of access to information, little or no assistance to navigate the process plus a diminished understanding of their own functional and health needs.
In this Australian Ageing Agenda web article, an NDIS expert with inside knowledge – who now works away from the agency – is calling on aged care providers to ensure younger residents are connected to the NDIS and receive the financial and personal support they require.
Conversation starter
Have you – or someone for whom you care – had difficulty navigating the requirements of the NDIS? Were you able to receive advice and assistance that progressed the application being made? What was the outcome? Were there any delays?
Policy areas
There is a wide range of policies relating to the care of older and infirm Australians receiving services in aged care facilities and in their own homes.
Additionally, older and infirm Australians who are under the age of 65 years may be eligible, following assessment, for support via the National Disability Insurance Scheme .
Public, private and not-for-profit residential aged care facilities must meet a standard set of quality indicators for the services they provide.
While the Federal Government is centrally responsible for setting national aged care policy and procedures, all states and territories assist older and infirm citizens and their families and carers to identify their care options.
Conversation starter
Have you – or someone you have cared for – found change is needed in policy relating to either residential or in-home care? Is that change critical at the national, state or regional level? Or is the change more urgent at truly local level, i.e., in an aged care facility or in your immediate community?
