Australian aged care facilities lead in the world in diagnosing chronic medical conditions among their residents, according to a census from multinational provider Bupa.

The 2009 census was based on 26,647 surveys conducted across the group’s 400 aged care facilities in the UK, Spain, New Zealand and Australia.

The census revealed that Australian facilities were better at detecting dementia and depression.

Bupa Care Services’ Managing Director, Paul Gregerson told the Aged Care Association Australia (ACAA) conference in Melbourne that the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) was a driving force behind the nation’s impressive detection record.

“There is some evidence that the tools we use in Australia lead to better diagnosis, which in turn, leads to better care and planning,” he said.

“Undoubtedly Australians have a better chance of receiving appropriate care than aged care residents in the other [three] countries.”

Similar censuses were conducted in the UK in 2003 and 2006 but this year was the first time Bupa compared its international services.

The surveys showed that Australian residents had been diagnosed with an average of 3.2 medical conditions on admission to residential aged care but in the other countries, the average was just 2.4.

Australian residents were also more likely to be diagnosed with sight and hearing impairments than their counterparts in the UK, Spain and New Zealand.

However the survey did suggest that the government’s imposed ratio of low and high care ratios is out of step with the rest of the world.

Only 78 per cent of the resident’s in Bupa’s Australian facilities were deemed to be high care, while in the other three countries, where ratios are not predetermined, that figure was 87 per cent.