Older Australians feeling supported, finds report

An evaluation of the National Aged Care Advocacy Program has found the majority of those surveyed reported better aged care services as a result of the program.

Nine in 10 of people surveyed report receiving better aged care services and three-quarters of respondents feel more confident discussing their needs with their provider as a result of support from the Older Persons Advocacy Network.

These are among findings of the independent evaluation of the National Aged Care Advocacy Program, which was undertaken between August 2023 and June 2024 and released by the Department of Health and Aged Care in a report in December.

Through the NACAP, the Department of Health and Aged Care funds 235 advocates and support staff across OPAN’s national nine-member network to support older people to access the care and services they need.

The department commissioned the Australian Healthcare Association to undertake the evaluation to assess the NACAP’s efficiency and effectiveness. AHA consulted with more than 700 stakeholders, including older people, aged care staff, advocates and government representatives.

It found 90 per cent of those surveyed felt they had received better aged care services as a result of NACAP and that the NACAP was successful in empowering older people to self-advocate with 74 per cent of those surveyed feeling more confident discussing their needs with their provider.

The evaluation also identifies opportunities for how to strengthen NACAP now and into future.

“In response to the evaluation, Older Persons Advocacy Network has already established new quality officer positions in each state and territory network, extended the reach of NACAP in areas with waitlists for advocacy and updated the minimum datasets to capture the time advocates spend on out-of-scope issues to inform future resourcing,” a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Aged Care told Australian Ageing Agenda.

“The Department of Health and Aged Care is working closely with OPAN to implement other recommendations. The Australian Government understands how important it is for older people to feel heard, understood, and supported which is why the National Aged Care Advocacy Program is such a fundamental component of the Australian Government’s reforms to aged care.”

Craig Gear. (Image supplied)

Commending the release of the evaluation, OPAN chief executive officer Craig Gear said the network’s advocates provided more than 44,000 cases of information and advocacy support in the last financial year – a 20 per cent increase on the previous year.

“Given the significant increases in the network’s case volume, I couldn’t be more thrilled by these results,” Mr Gear said.

“To me, they reflect the strength of our consortium model, which enables members to take a targeted, localised approach to the challenges facing older people while being supported by a national framework.”

Through the NACAP with the Government, the department have provided an additional $99.6 million over four years to expand aged care advocacy services in the 2021-22 Budget, increasing total NACAP funding over this period to $160.1 million.

The departmental spokesperson told AAA it has delivered on its commitment to expand access to aged care advocacy services in response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommendations.

“This is reflected in the overwhelmingly positive findings from the NACAP evaluation, which highlights older people, their families and representatives are receiving high quality information, education, and support to assist their journey through the aged care system,” the spokesperson said.

“Older people reported highly valuing advocates’ experience in and knowledge of the aged care sector, their professionalism, approachability, communication skills, compassion, respect, trustworthiness, and determination to help.”

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Tags: aged care, craig gear, Department of Health and Aged Care, NACAP, National Aged Care Advocacy Program, opan, report,

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