Media release

From: South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI)

A national study led by the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) Research Centre based at SAHMRI and the Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University, has revealed significant gaps in the quality aged care services being provided to older Australians.

Recently published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), the study analysed data from more than 390,000 people receiving government-subsidised long term aged care, either in residential facilities or through home care packages.

The team assessed 12 quality and safety indicators for residential care and 15 for home care, including medication use, emergency department presentations, waiting times for services, and rates of hospitalisations.

Associate Director of ROSA Professor Gill Caughey, says while the study identified areas performing strongly, it also found wide variations between providers in key measures of care quality.

“More than 80 per cent of people receiving home care packages waited over six months to access services, with considerable variation nationally in the total time people wait for home care supports,” Prof Caughey said.

“In residential aged care, we saw large differences in rates of antibiotic use, with 14 per cent of facilities prescribing at levels above the national average. High sedative load and emergency department presentation rates also ranged considerably.”

Prof Caughey says the findings highlight clear opportunities to improve consistency of care throughout the sector through targeted quality improvement strategies.

“Highlighting these discrepancies matters because it shows what needs to be done to improve quality of life and health outcomes for older Australians,” Prof Caughey said.

“We know older people’s preference is to age in place. To facilitate this, we need a nationally consistent approach to evidence-based practices, including safe prescribing guidelines and reforms to reduce wait times for home care services.”

A review also published in the latest edition of MJA, highlighted that high quality home care together with collaborative person-centred multidisciplinary care across care settings is key to success.

The ROSA outcome monitoring system integrates data from multiple sources to assess and benchmark aged care performance, supporting providers, policymakers, and the community to identify where improvements are needed.

“The aim is to ensure every older person in Australia, regardless of where they live or who provides their care, has access to the same high standard of care,” Prof Caughey said.

This research was funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and conducted in collaboration with researchers, clinicians, aged care providers, and consumer representatives across the country.