Report on Government Services 2019

Part F, Chapter 14

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.

Download the chapter

Note: An errata was released with this part reflecting updates to the files above.

Errata

The following real expenditure on aged care services data have changed in table 14A.5:

Home care and support services: Australian Government (Department of Health) expenditure
- Home care for 2016-17 for all states and territories
- Home support — Commonwealth HACC or Home Support Program for 2012-13 for all states and territories and Australia
- Home support — HACC Program for 2012-13 for Victoria, WA and Australia.
Total aged care services expenditure
- 2012-13 for all states and territories and Australia
- 2016-17 for all states and territories.

Key Facts
Indicator Framework
Indicator Results
Indigenous Data

Total government expenditure reported on aged care services in 2017-18 was $18.4 billion. This comprised expenditure of $12.4 billion on residential care services, $5.1 billion on home care and support services and $932.5 million on other services, such as flexible care and assessments.

As at June 2018, there were 207 142 operational places (excluding flexible places) in residential care services, and 91 847 recipients of Home Care Packages Level 1–4.

During 2017-18, there were 81 765 older clients receiving Home Care Packages Level 1‑2, 46 817 older clients receiving Home Care Packages Level 3‑4, 765 416 older clients of the Commonwealth Home Support Program and 64 856 older HACC clients in WA. There were also 234 798 older clients who received permanent care and 60 278 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
appropriate to meet the needs of clients — person-centred, with an emphasis on integrated care, ageing in place and restorative approaches
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 2019 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 (per cent)

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Aged care target population, 30 June 2018	3.1	0.9	4.1	3.9	2.1	4.7	1.8	43.1	3.0
ACAT assessments, 2017-18	2.5	0.7	2.2	1.9	1.4	1.5	1.3	34.2	1.9
Residential aged care, 30 June 2018	0.9	0.2	1.5	1.8	0.5	0.9	0.4	36.0	1.0
Home care levels 1–2, 30 June 2018	4.4	3.0	3.6	3.3	2.6	2.9	5.5	68.4	4.2
Home care levels 3–4, 30 June 2018	3.7	2.0	3.1	3.1	2.5	2.6	2.8	33.8	3.2
Transition care, 30 June 2018	0.9	0.6	3.4	0.9	0.6	1.1	–	8.0	1.3

Source: Attachment table 14A.18

Effectiveness — Access indicators

Unmet need

Proportion of all hospital patient days (for overnight separations only) that were for aged care type, 2016‑17

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
%	9.9	0.6	19.6	19.3	22.6	10.3	12.4	10.2	11.4

Source: Attachment table 14A.33

Effectiveness — Quality indicators

Compliance with service standards

Proportion of all re-accredited residential aged care facilities that have been granted a re-accreditation approval for a period of three years, as at 30 June 2018

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
%	95.3	99.2	96.2	97.0	96.7	98.6	88.5	91.7	96.9

Source: Attachment table 14A.37

Proportion of Australian Government home care and support service providers reviewed that achieved all expected outcomes for each of the three standards, 30 June 2018 (per cent)

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	95.5	96.3	92.2	91.7	79.3	92.0	84.6	81.8	92.3
Standard 2 — Appropriate access and service delivery	95.5	96.9	97.7	100.0	82.8	92.0	92.3	81.8	94.5
Standard 3 — Service user rights and responsibilities	99.1	99.0	96.9	100.0	93.1	100.0	100.0	81.8	97.3

Source: Attachment table 14A.39

Client and carer satisfaction

Proportion of people aged 65 years or over and living in households/their carers, who are satisfied with the quality of assistance received from organised and formal services in the last six months, 2015

Most recent data for these measures are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Older people	92.3 ± 3.8	89.5 ± 1.9	86.2 ± 5.9	88.7 ± 3.3	94.7 ± 5.8	83.6 ± 8.4	86.2 ± 7.3	60.0 ± 46.9	89.2 ± 1.2
Primary carers	79.5 ± 13.2	72.9 ± 9.4	86.9 ± 8.0	68.4 ± 15.1	73.6 ± 14.0	88.6 ± 12.0	76.5 ± 22.8	100.0	77.2 ± 5.9

Source: Attachment table 14A.41 and 14A.43

Compliants received

Number of in-scope complaints received for residential aged care services by the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner per 1000 residential aged care residents, 2017-18

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
no.	21.6	25.1	27.3	15.7	23.2	16.4	19.2	40.2	23.1

Source: Attachment table 14A.38

Efficiency indicators

Cost per output unit

Australian Government expenditure on aged care assessments, per completed assessment, 2017‑18

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
$	703.19	591.59	641.62	801.11	773.96	709.48	752.97	1 783.74	680.59

Source: Attachment table 14A.49

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 (per cent)

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.53

Maintenance of individual functioning

Improvement in the level of physical function for Transition Care Program (TCP) clients, reflected in the movement from the average Modified Barthel Index (MBI) score on entry to the average MBI score on exit, 2017‑18 (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	80	65	72	53	69	63	87	84	70
Average MBI on exit	91	73	84	61	85	81	96	92	81

Source: Attachment table 14A.54

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. – Nil or rounded to zero.

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.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 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 aged care recipients
Table 14A.33	Hospital patient days used by those eligible and waiting for residential aged care