Aboriginal Health Forum
Aged Care
Overview
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in June 2006, the proportion of people over the age of 65 years was approximately 13% (or an estimated 2.69 million) of the Australian population. 1.6% of the population (332,000 people) were over the age of 85. In Australia, 154,872 people lived in an aged care facility in June 2006. 53% were over the age of 85 years, and 69% were assessed as high care. View Older Australia at a glance (external PDF)
With increasing age comes increasing dependency and frailty, and the need for timely medical care and support. People over the age of 75 years made up 14.6% of all GP encounters, and residents in aged care facilities comprised approximately 1.9% of all GP encounters. View General practice activity in Australia 2005�06 (external PDF)
Whilst aged care issues are broadly covered in many of the activities of GPV and the divisions, the Department of Health and Ageing has provided specific program funding to the divisions network for the Aged Care GP Panels Initiative (ACGPPI). Since July 2004 the �panels initiative� funded GPV and divisions to work with general practitioners, allied health professionals and aged care facilities to improve access to care and services, and to improve the quality of care for residents in aged care facilities. GPV has used the opportunity provided by this program to also contribute a GP sector viewpoint to the development of initiatives in palliative care, advanced care planning and elder abuse.
In May 2008 the Commonwealth Government announced in the budget that the Aged Care GP Panels Initiative funding to the divisions network would cease at 30 June 2008. In its place the Commonwealth will fund the aged care access initiative
from 1 July 2008. The intention is to fund two separate components:
- An incentive payment for GPs to encourage more service provision in aged care facilities and to assist in improving the quality and consistency of care. The payment will be administered through Medicare Australia.
- A payment for clinical care provided by allied health professionals to residents of aged care facilities where these services are not currently covered by Medicare or other government funding arrangements. This component will be administered by divisions of general practice.
For further information contact:
Lee Stamford, Aged Care Consultant Ph: 03 9341 5200 | Fax: 03 9341 5299 | Email: l.stamford@gpv.org.au