The Government has just released its report on the operation of the Aged Care Act (download here).
Two statistics stand out – the number of residential aged care operators has dropped to 873 whilst the number of home care operators has increased to 928. Just 21% of home care clients get their support from private operators.
At the same time the number of ACAT assessments has also dropped from 219,000 to 178,000 in 4 years, a 19% fall.
Very interesting reading. The residential aged care sector (nursing homes) is losing business as a percentage of the increasing volume of people aged 85+, despite the increasing numbers.
At 30 June 2019, 16 per cent of Australia’s population was aged 65 years and over (4.0 million people) and 2.0 per cent was aged 85 years and over (509,000 people – with 48% of these people in an aged care home).
The average age on admission to permanent residential aged care was 82.3 years for men and 84.6 years for women. For entry to a home care package, the average was 80.5 years for men and 81.1 years for women.
54% of residents have dementia.
In 2018–19, over 1.3 million people received some form of aged care. The great majority received home-based care and support, and relatively few lived in residential care:
- 242,612 people received permanent residential aged care
- 65,523 people received residential respite care, of whom 34,984 (approximately 53 per cent) were later admitted to permanent care
- 133,439 people received care through a home care package
- 840,984 people received home support through the CHSP
At the same time, in 2018–19, a total of 1,458 aged care organisations were funded to deliver CHSP home support services to clients. The CHSP provided ‘home support’ to 840,984 clients.