Latest data from the AIHW provides an update on the federal government’s plan to keep young people out of residential aged care facilities.
The clock is ticking on the federal government’s plan to keep young people out of residential aged care facilities.
The government committed to the Younger People in Residential Aged Care Targets to slash the number of young people living in aged care homes.
The targets (outside of exceptional circumstances) include:
- No people under the age of 65 entering residential aged care by 2022.
- No people under the age of 45 living in residential aged care by 2022.
- No people under the age of 65 living in residential aged care by 2025.
A new AIHW report has revealed the government is making headway, but has a way to go to meet the targets by the end of the year.
Latest data from the report showed that from July to September 2024, 1161 people aged under 65 years across Australia (excluding First Nations People aged from 50-64 years) were admitted to permanent residential aged care homes. This includes 607 males and 543 females.
This compares to 5513 people aged under 65 years for the same period in 2018 (2981 males and 2532 females). It is also a decrease of 469 people from the same period in 2023.
The state-by-state breakdown of those 1161admissions includes NSW (387), Queensland (164), Victoria (416), Western Australia (86), South Australia (70) and Tasmania (33), the ACT (4) and the Northern Territory (1).
The report showed there were 241 First Nations people aged 50-64 years living in residential aged care in the July-September 2024 quarter. This compares to 361 in the same period in 2028.
During July to September 2024, 59 people under the age of 65 years entered permanent residential aged care for the first time in Australia. This is a decrease of two people from the same period in 2023 but still falls short of the target that specifies “No people under the age of 65 entering residential aged care by 1 January 2022”.
There here were 25 people aged under 45 years living in permanent residential aged care in Australia in the same period – a decrease of 10 people from the same date in 2023. This also fell short of the target that “No people under the age of 45 living in residential aged care by 1 January 2022”.
“While Targets 1 and 2 have passed, the government remains committed to Target 3 and will continue to report progress against Targets 1 and 2,” said the AIH report.