‘I know I can’t do what I used to’: factors affecting uptake of community aged care services for older people and their carers.
Lucy Nelms, Victoria Johnson and Karen Teshuva
Brotherhood of St Laurence and La Trobe University
Contact Email:   lnelmsbsl.org.au

Recent Federal budgets have increased funds for community care for older people. This paper contributes to understanding the factors that impede or facilitate uptake of community aged care services that are critical to meeting the needs of older people and their carers.

Outcomes for older people with complex or chronic care needs, a study undertaken by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and La Trobe University, examines older Victorians’ use of community services following Aged Care Assessment Service (ACAS) recommendations that they remain living at home. The paper reports on interviews with older people and carers undertaken at three-monthly intervals, over 12 months.

The study found that cost, lack of information, gaps in services and waiting lists, social isolation, high carer burden and the older person reporting low mood were all barriers to service uptake. The study concludes there is a need for better means of identifying and supporting older people and carers at risk to improve community service uptake. These findings give rise to policy recommendations that will be presented.

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