national respite and community care conference respite issues in community aged care 23 october 2014...
TRANSCRIPT
National Respite and Community Care ConferenceRespite Issues in Community Aged Care
23 October 2014
Sue EldertonNational Policy Manager
Carers Australia
About Carers Australia
Carers Australia is the national peak body representing the diversity of Australians who provide unpaid care and support to family members and friends with a:
disability chronic condition mental illness or disorder drug or alcohol problem terminal illness or who are frail aged.
Carers Australia has associations in all states and territories which provide:
information and referral Counselling respite education and training and a host of other
supports.
Respite – a knotty problem
Beset with issues about who “owns” the respite
This, in turn, contributes to:
Disconnect between aged care and disability care
The boxing of respite options into disparate programs to serve the care recipient
Ownership issues continue to dog carers access to respite under aged care reform
Home Care Packages
Respite care continues to come out of the package of the person being cared for
Carers reluctant to cut into the supports for the person they care for
CHSP clients will get respite priority
CHSP
Respite continues to be “owned” by the direct CHSP client
Respite will become more expensive - co-contribution to move from current national average of around 5% cent collection to 15% per cent nationally by 2017-18 subject to means testing.
Will only deliver basic-level services to older people living in the community and their carers
Getting caught between aged and disability care
CHSP respite
Limitation of 68 days + special circumstances
Co-contributions to cost of respite required in most cases
Respite part of the care recipient’s package
NDIS respite
Respite entitlementslayered: • between 7•and 28 days p.a.•+ (special circumstances
Co-contribution to costs unclear
Access depends on planner’s perception of need within context of full package
Respite part of participant’s package
Sandwich carers
Carers of people
not eligible for either ?
CA recommendations on CHSP design
The CHSP to consider carers as partners in care as well as individuals with their own needs.
Carers have access to the suite of respite care services within the CHSP as well as the residential respite care program based on their own assessed need in cases where the person they care for receives a Home Care Package that is fully expended on meeting their needs.
Carers also need access to access to restorative care through CHSP allied health services
CA recommendations on CHSP design
Face-to-face assessment should always be made available when a care relationship has been identified through the screening process. Domains of assessment to include:
Caring tasks and responsibilities Other responsibilities – employment, study, care for others Carers physical and emotion health status Sustainability of the care relationship Access to other supports Carer goals
CA recommendations on CHSP design
A carer of an aged person (whatever the carers’ age) should be eligible for CHSP even where the eligible person they care for is not receiving a service themselves.
Carer support services other than respite care should not be part of the CHSP, just as they are not part of the NDIS.
If we could start from scratch, what would we have preferred?
Carer supports should be available from their own bucket of funding PROVIDING adequately funded
Carers get access to personal budgets to purchase the services they are assessed as needing – including the respite options they want
BUT
How to resolve the “ownership” problem?