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Day Therapy Centres Overview

Day Therapy Centres offer physiotherapy, occupational and speech therapy, podiatry and other therapy services to older people in a community setting.

About the Program

The Day Therapy Centre Program provides a wide range of therapy services to frail older people living in the community and to residents of Australian Government funded residential aged care facilities.

There is no single model of service provision for services. They may operate across a range of therapy services, intensity and types.

Therapy services include:

• physiotherapy;
• occupational therapy;
• podiatry; and
• speech therapy.

These therapy services are offered to individuals or groups of clients to assist them to maintain - or recover - a level of independence that will allow them to remain either in the community or in low level residential care.

Clients can be referred to a Day Therapy Centre by a number of ways. Some of these referrals can be through:

• A General Practitioner;
• Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT);
• A social worker;
• A Geriatrician;
• Hospitals; and
• Community health workers.

The Australian Government is providing approximately $36 million in funding in 2009–2010 to the Day Therapy Centre Program.

Day Therapy Centres are currently funded under grants and administered through contractual arrangements between the Australian Government and the Day Therapy Centre as the grantee recipient.

Day Therapy Centre Program Manual

The DTC Program Manual outlines in more detail on how the program operates.
Note that the current DTC guidelines 2011 will be replaced with the DTC Program Manual 2012 which will come into effect from 1 July 2012. Organisations receiving funding from 2012- 13 onwards must refer to the DTC Program Manual 2012 (PDF 1504 KB).

Note: A HTML version of the DTC Program Manual is currently being prepared. If you are having difficulty downloading the PDF, please email: acc@health.gov.au

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Target groups

Around 160,000 frail older people living in the community and residents of Australian Government funded residential aged care facilities received Day Therapy Centre services in 2008 – 2009.

Clients eligible to receive therapy services are:

• residents in Australian Government funded residential care facilities who have been referred for specific treatment; and
• aged persons from the community, who have been referred for specific treatment.

Service providers

There are 139 providers currently receiving funding to provide services under the Day Therapy Centre Program.

Other care services

There are other care services available to aged people who need help. Some of these care services include:

• Home and Community Care (HACC) Program services;
• Community Aged Care Packages (CACP);
• Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and EACH Dementia (EACH D);
• Veterans’ Home Care (VHC);
• National Respite for Carers Program;

Further information

Further information can be obtained by calling 1800 200 422*, this number can provide information on a range of aged care services and supports available locally and nationally. Coordination and advice can also be provided to access respite services, counselling and emotional support for carers.
*(calls from mobile phones charged at applicable rates)

Feedback

We welcome your comments about this Day Therapy Centre Program website. If you would like to provide feedback, please email acc@health.gov.au with your comments.
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