Annual report on the operations of the Aged Care Act 2007-08

The Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot has released the annual Report into the Operation of the Aged Care Act 2007-2008, as required by Section 63-2 of the Aged Care Act.

In 2007-2008, more than 300,000 people received a form of aged and community care and the Federal Government provided $8.3 billion for ageing and aged care in Australia.

As of 30 June, there were 2,830 nursing homes and hostels in Australia; 174,669 residential places; 46,475 community care places and 1,963 transition care places.

The report covers 1 July, 2007 to 30 June 30, 2008, including the final four months of the previous Government.

 Key facts

Aged and Community Care – 2007-2008

208,079 people received permanent residential aged care;
39,443 people received short-term respite care in aged care homes, of whom 18,415 were later admitted to permanent care;
61,739 received care at home through a community care or flexible care package;
10,351 received transition care following a hospital stay;
53,074 admissions to residential respite care, and care recipients used an estimated 1.18 million resident days;
A total of 10,874 new aged care places were allocated nationally during 2007-2008;
About 831,500 individuals received a form of Home and Community Care (HACC) service – with some receiving more than one service; and
A total of 188,967 Aged Care Assessments were completed in 2006-2007, compared with 179,354 for 2005-2006.

Aged and community care providers

As of 30 June, there were 2,830 nursing homes and hostels in Australia;
In 2007-2008, the nursing home and hostel comprised – religious, charity and community based (59.7%); for-profit/commercial (33.3%) and state and local governments (7%);
In 2007-2008, the community care sector compromised – religious, charity and community based (83.6%); state and local governments (11.7%) and for-profit (4.7%).

Expenditure – 2007-2008

Overall federal government expenditure for ageing and aged care during 2007-2008 totalled $8.3 billion compared with $7.7 billion in 2006-2007 – an increase of 7.8% in 2006-2007;
$6 billion was spent on residential aged care;
$448 million for Community Care Packages – an increase of 10.6% over 2006-2007;
$335 million for flexible care programs, including Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and EACH – Dementia packages, Multi-purpose Services and Transition Care;
Average accommodation bond charged to a new resident by providers was $188,798 in 2007-2008;
The average holding per approved provider was $6.5 million and the 10 largest bond holders held about 19% ($1.2 billion) of all accommodation bond monies; and
35% (6,098) of the 17,132 Resident Classification Scale reviews resulted in re-classifications – meaning the funding claims made by providers accurately matched the level of care for people living in nursing homes.

Construction/upgrading work

$1.45 billion worth of new building, refurbishment and upgrading work was completed to nursing homes during 2007-2008 – involving about 13.4% of all homes;
$1.93 billion of construction work was in progress as at 30 June, 2008 – involving 9.8% of all homes; and
At June 2008, an estimated 11.6% of nursing homes were planning building work.

Quality, complaints and compliance

During 2007-08 the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency conducted 5,244 visits to homes, with 3,105 visits being unannounced. In this same period the Department undertook 3,127 visits to homes, of which 1,145 were unannounced.
The Accreditation Agency identified 46 homes (1.6%) that had some non-compliance in relation to the 44 accreditation standard outcomes.
The Aged Care Complaints Investigation Scheme (CIS) referred 1,770 matters to the Accreditation Agency, 62 to Nurses’ Registration Boards, 53 to the police; 33 to the Coroner; 27 to the Health Care Complaints Commission and 13 to the Medical Practitioners Board.
22% of the referrals to the Accreditation Agency requested a support contact or a review audit of a nursing home.
During 2007-2008, the Department of Health and Ageing applied sanctions against 14 providers, issuing 15 Notices of Decision to Impose Sanctions and issued 75 Notices of Non-Compliance.
The CIS received 11,323 contacts between 1 July, 2007 and 30 June, 2008 of which 66% were able to be investigated as these related to approved providers’ responsibilities under the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act).
The most common issues reported to the CIS in order were: health and personal care (3,106 cases), physical environment (1,598 cases), consultation and communication (1,496 cases), personnel (1,255 cases) and 1,117 cases relating to alleged abuse.

Breaches under the Aged Care Act

The CIS identified 930 breaches of an approved provider’s responsibility.
There were 214 Notices of Required Action issued by the CIS requiring providers to address a breach.
Of the remaining number of breaches, the matters were resolved through a negotiated outcome or through referral to another agency.

Alleged Reportable Assaults

There were 925 notifications of alleged reportable assaults.
Of those 725 were recorded as alleged unreasonable use of force and 200 were alleged unlawful sexual contact.