The church and charitable aged care sector in South Australia has urged the state government to help it promote a positive approach to ageing.
A policy document being issued to MPs in the lead up to this month’s election recommends that the government collaborate with the sector in areas such as primary health, chronic disease management and planning.
The paper includes a proposal for a $5 million pilot project that would see aged and community care organisations providing sub-acute services.
“We are really interested in that area because we do believe we have an important role to play there,” said the CEO of Aged and Community Services SA & NT, Alan Graham.
“If they are properly resourced, there is no reason why aged care providers couldn’t provide a whole range of sub-acute services, reducing the number of admissions of older people to hospitals.”
The policy document calls on the government to improve communication between different parts of the health system to ensure better transitions between services and to improve assessments.
It also calls for an investment of $8 million over four years to help aged and community care providers to adopt a restorative approach to care.
Mr Graham said the state’s aged care providers want the government to work with them as they focus on positive ageing.
“What we are trying to do is not just curtail our interest to the delivery of services to older people,” he said.
“We believe that we do have a responsibility to be advocates for older South Australians and their wellbeing.
“We see it as a positive in terms of the quality of services that will be delivered in this state.”
The policy document also contains a series of proposals to improve the availability of equipment, home modifications and assistive technologies.
It says access to these resources should be jointly coordinated across a range of different services and funding programs.
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