Health of grey nomads

Health of grey nomads

Aged care Rural health

Health of grey nomads: On the move and under the health sector radar has been published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health recently. The term 'grey nomads' refers to older people travelling long distances around Australia and staying in caravans, tents or motor homes.  Anecdotal evidence suggests they impose a burden on rural and remote health services, but there has been very little research to support this.

Author Melissa Raven surveyed the literature and found that many grey nomads have chronic diseases and some are inadequately prepared for travelling.  She concludes that there is a need for further research to analyse the uptake of health services from this group in order to properly resource health services and optimise their well-being.  

Residential aged care report 2013-14

Residential aged care report 2013-14

Aged care Statistics

The AIHW has released the latest data on residential and home care service providers, as well as the people in care, for the 2013-14 financial year in their web report, Residential aged care and Home Care 2013–14.

Some of the statistics presented show that two out of three people in permanent residential aged care were women.  The average age for women was 85.8 and for men, 81.6. 67% of these people required high-level care to manage behaviour, while 47% needed this care for activities of daily living and 40% for complex health care.  24% of Indigenous people in permanent aged care were under 65, compared to 3% for non-Indigenous residents. 

Reducing depressing in nursing home residents

Reducing depressing in nursing home residents

Aged care Depression Mental health

According to an article recently published in The Conversation, 52% of aged care residents have symptoms of depression, compared with 10-15% of older people living in the community.  The author of Reducing depression in nursing homes requires more than just antidepressants, Sunil Bhar, is the Convenor of Clinical Psychology Programs at Swinburne University of Technology, and the co-founder of Swinburne's Wellbeing Clinic for Older Adults.  He discusses various psychological interventions that can help people going into aged care overcome some of their issues and improve mental health care in these facilities.  "Rather than simply medicating the growing proportion of Australians who are admitted to aged care, we need to treat the whole person and the underlying causes of their depression."

My Aged Care website

My Aged Care website

Aged care

From 1 July 2015 the aged care system is changing, with the aim to make it easier for Australians to understand their options, the costs involved and how to access this support. 

My Aged Care is the first step for individuals and their families seeking advice on their options and how to access this support. It has been established by the Australian Government to help people navigate the aged care system.

Ageing Well: A guide to planning ahead for older people who live with mental illness

Ageing Well: A guide to planning ahead for older people who live with mental illness

Aged care Ageing Mental health

Planning ahead is about preparing for issues related to living arrangements, physical and mental healthcare, financial and lifestyle matters. 
Even though planning ahead is important to maintain wellbeing, SANE Australia’s research found that the majority of people living with mental illness, and their carers, struggle to plan for the future.
Discussions about a person’s wishes and needs as they age can be difficult, but are crucial to ensure choice, comfort and quality of care.
SANE’s new resource, the Ageing Well guide, has been developed to make the process of planning easier, with a checklist to help people develop a plan.

Ageing Well: A guide to planning ahead for older people who live with mental illness, their family and friends. 2015. Sane Australia

Polypharmacy in older Australians

Polypharmacy in older Australians

Aged care Ageing Drug therapy Hospitals Pharmacy

A study just published in Medical Journal of Australia has revealed that about 24% of patients aged 70 years or over had 10 or more routinely prescribed medicines on hospital admission.  The authors of Polypharmacy among inpatients aged 70 years or older in Australia examined records from 2005 to 2010 and compared the number of medicines recorded at hospital admission to the number recorded at hospital discharge.  They found there was no change in either the number or type of medicines prescribed to the patient. The authors concluded that treating clinicians could be doing more to rationalise the number of drugs prescribed during that patient's hospital stay.

Polypharmacy among inpatients aged 70 years or older in Australia.
Ruth E Hubbard, Nancye M Peel, Ian A Scott, Jennifer H Martin, Alesha Smith, Peter I Pillans, Arjun Poudel and Leonard C Gray

Med J Aust 2015; 202 (7): 373-377. doi:10.5694/mja13.00172

Use of aged care services before death

Use of aged care services before death

Aged care

This report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare examines people’s use of aged care services in the 8 years before death, using the cohort of 116,481 people who died in 2010–11 aged at least 65.  While some of these people used aged care services only in the year before death, others had accessed services over several years. 

The average age at death of this cohort was 85.2 for women and 81.5 for men. Overall, 80% had used aged care in the 8 years before death.  Almost half (47%) began using aged care more than 4 years before death. The older a person was when they died, the more likely they were to have been accessing a care program at the time of death and around 10% stopped using aged care in the last quarter before death. People used a diversity of care pathways. Around 80% of these people began by using HACC or VHC. Permanent RAC was the first service used for about half of the remainder.  

Use of Aged Care Services Before Death.  Data linkage series no. 19. Cat. no. CSI 21.