Planning and allocating care places and capital grants

The recent Auditor General’s Audit Office (ANAO) Report no 40 2008-09, has found that although the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) has an effective approach to managing and allocating care places, there is still room for improvement.

ANAO recommended that the DoHA should provide advice to the Minister for Ageing, on options for incorporating the Indigenous aged 50-69 population numbers into the planning ratio target, and that it should assess alternatives to how the department applies the government’s national aged care planning ratio across states and territories so as to better take into account state demographic differences.

ANAO also recommends that DoHA puts into place appropriate costing arrangements that track the cost of key components of the Aged Care Approvals Rounds (ACAR) so as to inform management decisions relating to program delivery.

The ANAO report said that the DoHA has agreed to these recommendations.