AUSTRALIA: Government Could Help Elderly Stay at Home

CANBERRA (The Australian), August 9, 2006: Elderly Australians can live longer in their own homes if given government help with nursing, meals and housekeeping. The federal Government could save money by delivering aged-care services to people in retirement villages because it delays their need to enter more expensive nursing homes, a study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has shown. The study, released yesterday, assessed a government pilot program conducted between 2003 and 2004 in which retirement home residents were given help with basic health and housekeeping tasks. Under the retirement village care pilot scheme, the Government created 280 "flexible packages" under which providers tailored programs for participants, most of whom were at least 85. The report says the program worked, particularly in cases where the service providers were located in the retirement village. The scheme allowed for provision of high levels of preventive care and social support at a relatively low cost, the report says. "This has the benefit to clients of providing preventive care and reassurance that support is available on short notice," it says. "The flexible funding model has enabled providers to balance the needs of low and high-care clients in a community setting and to adjust service delivery to meet the changed needs of individual care recipients." The report said a survey conducted among participants and their families found 80 per cent of those who received help felt the program delivered all of their previously unmet needs. "Seventy-two per cent of carers and relatives who completed the carer survey confirmed RVCP was a suitable care option for the foreseeable future," the report says. Minister for Ageing Santo Santoro said the Government was pleased with the assessment because in May it had acted on interim reports of the pilot's success by providing $24 million in new funding for retirement village care programs. "The pilot project showed that providing community aged care to residents of retirement villages allows people to continue living for longer periods of time in their own homes and close to their friends and social networks," Senator Santoro said. By Matthew Franklin © The Australian Source: National Evaluation of the Retirement Villages Care Pilot Aged care series No. 11 An Australian Government initiative, the Retirement Villages Care Pilot (RVCP ) has trialled the provision of flexible care packages into retirement villages in metropolitan, regional and rural locations across Australia. The evaluation found that RVCP packages deliver a more comprehensive range of services than Community Aged Care Packages, and are able to deliver service levels ranging from a low-level HACC service of one type of assistance up to that of a typical Extended Aged Care at Home package, or higher. Authored by Hales C, Ross L., & Ryan C. Published August 8, 2006.