Report on Government Services 2017

Volume F, Chapter 14

Aged care services

This chapter focuses on government funded care and support services for older people and their carers, which are provided at home, in the community and in residential care facilities.

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Key Facts
Indicator Framework
Indicator Results
Indigenous Data

Total government expenditure reported on aged care services in 2015-16 was $16.8 billion. This comprised expenditure of $11.5 billion on residential care services, $4.3 billion on home care and support services and $1.1 billion on other services, such as flexible care and assessments.

At June 2016, there were 79 819 operational places (including flexible places) in Home Care levels 1–4 and 199 449 operational places (including flexible places) in residential care services. During 2015-16, there were 62 919 older clients of Home Care levels 1–2, 28 512 older clients of Home care levels 3–4 (equivalent to about 86 500, if clients are counted once across the Home care levels) and 286 604 older HACC clients in Victoria and WA. Commonwealth Home Support Program client and activity data were not provided for this report due to under-reporting and a new data capturing system. There were also 227 819 older clients who received permanent care and 55 146 who received respite care in a residential aged care facility during that period.

The aged care system aims to promote the wellbeing and independence of older people (and their carers), by enabling them to stay in their own homes or by assisting them in residential care. Governments seek to achieve this aim by subsidising aged care services that are:

accessible — including, timely and affordable
planned effectively — targeted to areas of need and integrated with other services
appropriate to meet the needs of the recipients and their carers — with an emphasis on ageing in place and restorative approaches
person-centred, taking into account individual goals, preferences and choices
high quality.

Governments aim for aged care services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

The performance indicator framework provides information on equity, efficiency and effectiveness, and distinguishes the outputs and outcomes of government aged care services. The performance indicator framework shows which data are complete and comparable in the 2017 Report.

Indicator framework

An overview of the Aged care services performance indicator results are presented. Information to assist the interpretation of these data can be found in the indicator interpretation boxes in the Aged care services chapter and attachment tables.

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Equity — Access indicators

Use by different groups

Proportion of service clients who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, compared with the proportion of the aged care target population who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (%)

Most recent data for this measure are comparable but incomplete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Aged care target population, June 2016	3.0	0.8	4.1	3.9	2.0	4.5	1.7	42.9	3.0
Residential aged care, 30 June 2016	0.7	0.2	1.5	1.8	0.5	0.6	0.5	38.9	0.9
Home care levels 1–2, 30 June 2016	3.8	4.1	5.6	6.7	2.5	2.4	7.8	67.0	5.3
Home care levels 3–4, 30 June 2016	1.6	1.8	2.5	2.4	1.5	1.2	0.3	27.8	2.1
Transition care, 2015-16	0.8	0.1	1.9	1.7	0.6	1.3	1.7	21.1	1.1

Source: Attachment table 14A.18

Effectiveness — Access indicators

Elapsed times for aged care services

Proportion of people entering residential aged care services who did so within 3 months of ACAT approval, 2015‑16

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
%	52.0	57.7	46.1	50.2	50.9	56.3	36.6	36.9	52.0

Source: Attachment table 14A.25

Hospital patient days used by aged care type patients

Proportion of all hospital patient days used by patients who are waiting for residential aged care, 2014‑15

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
%	7.6	1.2	20.2	10.5	17.5	10.9	22.9	19.5	10.0

Source: Attachment table 14A.32

Effectiveness — Appropriateness indicators

Operational aged care places

Total operational aged care places per 1000 people aged 70 years or over and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 50–69 years (excluding transition care), 30 June 2016

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
no.	107.7	111.4	101.5	102.0	117.0	102.1	113.4	97.0	107.5

Source: Attachment table 14A.15

Effectiveness — Quality indicators

Compliance with service standards for residential care

Proportion of all re‑accredited residential aged care services that have been granted a re‑accreditation approval for a period of three years, as at 30 June 2016

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
%	98.6	99.5	95.2	98.3	98.4	100.0	100.0	91.7	98.3

Source: Attachment table 14A.36

Compliance with service standards for home care and support

Proportion of Australian Government home care and support service providers reviewed that achieved all expected outcomes for each of the three standards, 30 June 2016 (%)

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Standard 1 — Effective management	94.2	98.5	92.7	100.0	90.7	96.8	96.3	83.6	94.1
Standard 2 — Appropriate access and service delivery	95.9	99.0	97.9	100.0	89.9	100.0	100.0	90.2	96.6
Standard 3 — Service user rights and responsibilities	99.2	100.0	99.2	100.0	98.4	100.0	100.0	93.4	99.1

Source: Attachment table 14A.38

Complaints received

Number of complaints received by the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner per 1000 care recipients, 2015‑16

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
no.	21.3	24.2	25.0	14.0	18.8	26.6	22.2	62.8	22.1

Source: Attachment table 14A.37

Efficiency indicators

Cost per output unit

Australian Government expenditure on aged care assessments, per assessment, 2014‑15

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
$	621.29	486.11	564.57	644.01	760.61	571.11	574.04	1 519.66	585.81

Source: Attachment table 14A.40

Expenditure per head of aged care target population

Governments’ real expenditure on residential services per person aged 65 years or over and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 50–64 years, 2015‑16

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
$	3 061.92	3 307.72	2 889.79	2 635.86	3 520.95	2 881.33	2 517.36	1 362.05	3 061.20

Source: Attachment table 14A.42

Outcome indicators

Social participation in the community

Proportion of older people aged 65 years or over who did not leave home or did not leave home as often as they would like, 2015 (%)

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
With profound or severe disability	48.0 ± 6.6	43.3 ± 7.1	43.7 ± 7.5	40.2 ± 9.8	52.9 ± 8.3	47.7 ± 13.6	40.0 ± 9.0	47.1 ± 16.5	45.6 ± 3.3
Without disability	6.6 ± 1.9	7.7 ± 1.8	5.3 ± 1.8	6.1 ± 2.3	7.3 ± 2.0	3.3* ± 2.5	3.6* ± 2.8	np	6.5 ± 0.8

Source: Attachment table 14A.45

Maintenance of individual functioning

Improvement in Transition Care Program (TCP) client’s level of functioning, reflected in the movement from the average Modified Barthel Index (MBI) score on entry to the average MBI score on exit, 2015‑16 (number)

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Average MBI on entry	79	64	72	58	69	65	85	84	71
Average MBI on exit	91	72	83	66	86	82	93	94	81

Source: Attachment table 14A.46

Notes

These data and caveats for these data are available in chapter 14 and attachment 14A.

Some percentages reported in these tables include 95 per cent confidence intervals (for example, 80 per cent ± 2.7 per cent).

* Indicates the estimate or proportion has a relative standard error between 25 per cent and 50 per cent and should therefore be used with caution.

np Not published.

Performance indicator data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this chapter are available in the attachment tables listed below. Contextual data and further supporting information can be found in the chapter.

Indigenous aged care services data
Table number	Table title
Table 14A.18	Representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in the aged care target population and in older aged care recipients
Table 14A.28	Elapsed times for aged care services, by Indigenous status
Table 14A.32	Hospital patient days used by those eligible and waiting for residential aged care