Beds increase and occupancy rates decline
The AIHW’s overview of residential aged care shows a continued increase in licensed places and vacancies.
The Commonwealth’s target for residential aged care places has nearly been reached, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The government planned to have 88 operational beds for every thousand people aged 70 and over, but the actual provision rate had already reached 87.7 in June last year.
The head of AIHW’s ageing and aged care unit, Ann Peut said the news about occupant-ready places did not come as a big surprise.
“We have certainly been observing that it has been getting much closer to the target in recent years,” she said.
“Around 2003 and 2004 there was quite a large surge in allocations and it usually take a couple of years for beds to come on stream so that is probably what we are starting to see now.”
However it seems that this trend is driving down overall occupancy levels.
In June last year, the industry’s occupancy rate was 93.5 per cent, down from 94.3 per cent 12 months earlier.
The report states that occupancy rates have been hovering around 94-96 per cent since 1998 but have shown a downward trend since 2002-03.
“[Occupancy levels] have particularly been declining in the last couple of years,” said Ms Peut.
“Perhaps it is part of the same story. Because aged care providers are reaching the target so quickly there are more places.”
But these declines will not have been experienced by all providers. The report shows that occupancy rates vary quite widely throughout the country.
In South Australia 97 per cent of beds were occupied in June last year but in Victoria only 92 per cent of places were being used.
In the major cities the occupancy rate was 93 per cent but in inner regional areas it was 95 per cent. In remote areas it was 90 per cent and in very remote areas it was only 80 per cent.
“Our figures for occupancy only go down to a state and territory level but at a more localised level you would probably see more variation,” said Ms Peut.
“There may be some areas where occupancy is still quite high and some people are going to stay there is a shortage of places because of that.”
The AIHW report also highlighted the integral role played by residential respite care.
Forty-nine per cent of admissions to residential aged care in 2007-08 were for short-term respite care.
“Because at any one point in time there are only a couple of thousand people in respite care, it is easy to think that they are just a small element of the system,” said Ms Peut.
“But if you look at it over a whole year, there are a lot of people coming in and out of respite care.
“From a service provider perspective, it must be a very busy part of their business.”
Residential aged care in Australia at a glance
On 30 June 2008:
– There were 175,472 were residential aged care places
– The overall occupancy rate was 93.5 per cent
– The average length of stay for permanent residents in aged care facilities was 147.8 weeks
– The average length of stay for respite residents in aged care facilities was 3.3 weeks
– A total of 47,338 residents had received an ACFI appraisal
– Over three quarters of them (76 per cent) were classified as high care
– There had been 105,030 admissions to residential aged care in the previous 12 months
– Forty-nine per cent of those admissions were for short-term respite care
