Pharmacist-Led Medication Review to Identify Medication-Related Problems in Older People Referred to an Aged Care Assessment Team

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to describe the distribution of hospital and aged care services for older people, with a particular focus on transition care places, across Australia and to determine the relationships between the provision of these services. Methods: Aggregation of health and aged care service indicators by Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) region including: public and private acute and subacute (rehabilitation and geriatric evaluation and management) hospital beds, flexible and mainstream aged care places as at 30 June 2006. Results: There was marked variation in the distribution of acute and subacute hospital beds among the 79 ACAT regions. Aged care places were more evenly distributed. However, the distribution of transition care places was uneven. Rural areas had poorer provision of all beds. There was no evidence of coordination in the allocation of hospital and aged care services between the Commonwealth and state/territory governments. There was a weak relationship between the allocation of transition care places and the distribution of health and aged care services. Discussion: Overall, the distribution of services available to older persons is uneven across Australia. While the Transition Care Program is flexible and is providing rural communities with access to rehabilitation, it will not be adequate to address the increasing needs associated with the ageing of the Australian population. An integrated national plan for aged care and rehabilitation services should be considered.

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The delegate's dilemma: ACATre-assessment in hostels

Australian Health Review ◽

10.1071/ah000181 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 181

Author(s):

Julia Poole

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

Aged Care ◽

Family Services ◽

Ageing In Place ◽

Funding Formula ◽

Department Of Health ◽

Care Assessment ◽

High Care ◽

The Right ◽

Care For Older People

The provision for 'ageing in place' in the Aged Care Act of 1997 has provided an opportunity for hostel facilities tobroaden their scope of care for older people. Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATs) are required to provide assessmentsto give approval for high or low level entry to these facilities, and to provide approval for reclassification from low tohigh care. However, guidelines for ACAT assessments are contradictory with respect to the Resident ClassificationScale (RCS) which provides the facility funding formula, thus creating gatekeeping compared with advocacydifficulties for the ACAT.If the facility can support a claim of high care need for a resident via the RCS but the ACAT (using different andless in-depth criteria) does not agree with that claim, then the care of that resident might be compromised due toinadequate funding. Recommendations made to solve this dilemma include conferring the right of the hostel staff toreclassify residents when necessary, with the responsibility for confirmation of that classification to remain with thetrained validation officers from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services, not the ACAT.

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Older people’s news dependency and social connectedness

Media International Australia ◽

10.1177/1329878x211006497 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1329878X2110064

Author(s):

Caroline Fisher ◽

Sora Park ◽

Jee Young Lee ◽

Kate Holland ◽

Emma John

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

Social Isolation ◽

News Media ◽

Digital Literacy ◽

Social Connectedness ◽

Aged Care ◽

Capital City ◽

Contributing Factors ◽

Older Citizens

Social isolation has become a growing issue, particularly among older citizens. The ‘digital divide’ has been identified as one of the contributing factors leaving many older citizens behind. While increasing digital literacy among seniors has been identified as one of the remedies, less attention has been paid to the role of news media on the wellbeing and connectedness of older people. Through the lens of the uses and gratifications theory, this article reports on the findings of a survey of 562 news consumers aged 50 years and above who live in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The analysis highlights the important role of news in reducing feelings of social isolation, particularly for those who spend more time alone and older people with cognitive impairment. Older participants who had difficulty concentrating and learning new tasks were also more dependent on news. We suggest this is due to the habitual, predictable and concise nature of news. These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of news in the wellbeing of older people and point to the need for policymakers and those in the aged care sector to ensure access to news for older citizens to improve the quality of life.

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Approving for a Community Aged Care Package: Experiences and perceptions of six metropolitan aged care assessment service teams

Australasian Journal on Ageing ◽

10.1111/j.1741-6612.2010.00452.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 77-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Delwyne Stephens ◽

Yvonne Wells ◽

Ian Gardner

Keyword(s):

Aged Care ◽

Care Assessment ◽

Care Package ◽

Community Aged Care

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Understanding the Diverse Forms of Spiritual Expression of Older People in Residential Aged Care in Australia

Journal of Religion and Health ◽

10.1007/s10943-018-00742-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 58 (5) ◽

pp. 1561-1572 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ann Harrington ◽

Victoria Williamson ◽

Ian Goodwin-Smith

Keyword(s):

Older People ◽

Aged Care ◽

Residential Aged Care ◽

Spiritual Expression

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Housing and Care for Older Women in Australia

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2021.566960 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Julie E. Byles ◽

Emily M. Princehorn ◽

Peta M. Forder ◽

Md Mijanur Rahman

Keyword(s):

Service Use ◽

Care Service ◽

Later Life ◽

Aged Care ◽

Community Services ◽

Residential Aged Care ◽

Institutional Setting ◽

Care Needs ◽

Housing Type ◽

Care Assessment

Background: Housing is essential for healthy ageing, being a source of shelter, purpose, and identity. As people age, and with diminishing physical and mental capacity, they become increasingly dependent on external supports from others and from their environment. In this paper we look at changes in housing across later life, with a focus on the relationship between housing and women's care needs.Methods: Data from 12,432 women in the 1921–26 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health were used to examine the interaction between housing and aged care service use across later life.Results: We found that there were no differences in access to home and community care according to housing type, but women living in an apartment and those in a retirement village/hostel were more likely to have an aged care assessment and had a faster rate of admission to institutional residential aged care than women living in a house. The odds of having an aged care assessment were also higher if women were older at baseline, required help with daily activities, reported a fall, were admitted to hospital in the last 12 months, had been diagnosed or treated for a stroke in the last 3 years, or had multiple comorbidities. On average, women received few services in the 24 months prior to admission to institutional residential aged care, indicating a potential need to improve the reach of these services.Discussion: We find that coincident with changes in functional capacities and abilities, women make changes to their housing, sometimes moving from a house to an apartment, or to a village. For some, increasing needs in later life are associated with the need to move from the community into institutional residential aged care. However, before moving into care, many women will use community services and these may in turn delay the need to leave their homes and move to an institutional setting. We identify a need to increase the use of community services to delay the admission to institutional residential aged care.

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Digital Innovations for Aged Care: Impacts in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Healthier Lives, Digitally Enabled - Studies in Health Technology and Informatics ◽

10.3233/shti210010 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alan Taylor ◽

Jennifer Tieman ◽

Anthony Maeder

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Health Services ◽

Older People ◽

Acute Care ◽

Digital Technology ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Aged Care ◽

Care Provision ◽

Remote Interaction ◽

Healthcare Interventions

This paper describes the extent to which remote interaction healthcare interventions supported by digital technology are currently being used, or have recently been newly developed for use, in the care of older people in Australia within the context of the existing Australian aged care system and in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic. We place emphasis on those interventions associated with primary care provision, and associated healthcare services such as allied health, rather than outreach from jurisdictional health services and acute care. The primary purpose of this study was to gain an indication of the extent and range of such interventions, and provide a pragmatic commentary on their usage. This has enabled the understanding of some characteristics for success, and drivers for rapid adoption of further digital technology interventions, in the aged care sector.

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