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Long and winding road: Aged care use before death
Author(s) -
Joenperä Jenni,
Van Der Zwan Felicity,
Karmel Rose,
CooperStanbury Mark
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/ajag.12317
Subject(s) - aged care , medicine , older people , gerontology , service (business) , community service , family medicine , residential care , nursing , public relations , political science , economy , economics
Aim To understand how older A ustralians used F ederal G overnment‐funded aged care services in the eight years before their death. Method The A ustralian I nstitute of H ealth and W elfare's P athways in A ged C are ( PIAC ) database was used to examine individual patterns of aged care service use between 2002 and 2011 for the 116 481 people who died in 2010–2011 aged 65 or over. Results About 80% of A ustralians who died in 2010–2011 aged 65 or over had used aged care services in the eight years prior to their death. Most (84%) entered the system through a community‐based programme (particularly H ome and C ommunity C are ( HACC ) and, to a much smaller degree, community packaged aged care programmes), with only 1 in 10 people first using permanent residential aged care. The most common pattern of age care service use was HACC only. Other common patterns of care use were HACC followed by permanent residential aged care, and permanent residential care only. In all, people used aged care programmes in more than 1500 combinations. Conclusion The comprehensive PIAC database allows research into patterns of use of aged care services that can inform decision‐making by clients, carers, providers and funders of the services.