Aged Care
Background
Residents in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) are a particularly vulnerable group, and many GPs delivering medical services to this group feel overworked and poorly supported.
Under the Aged Care GP Panels Initiative, which was funded by the Department of Health and Ageing between 2004 and 2008, our role was to establish collaborative linkages with the Residential Aged Care sector to pursue a range of interests relating to GP / Aged Care integration, health services delivery to residents, and workforce and support issues for GPs. This program was replaced in 2008 by the Aged Care Access Initiative (ACAI).
Allied Health in Aged Care
The main focus of the ACAI Program is on the provision of Allied Health services where these are not currently covered by Medicare or other government funding arrangements.
This involves working with RACFs to identify the Allied Health needs of their residents and using the funding supplied to support the roll out of these services.
Stakeholder Engagement
The Association is fortunate to have established strong relationships with not only our aged care facilities, but with key aged care sector stakeholders. The Association continues to support an Aged Care Steering Committee which consists of local GPs, with an interest in aged care, an Aged Care Specialist Physician, a representative from one of our RACFs, as well as Association staff. The Association also supports a DoN network meeting to promote communication between facilities and an opportunity to network with others in the same role and those who have roles that may directly impact RACFs.