Home > For Health Professionals > Aged care > Community Care > Community Care Census

Community Care Census

Community Care Census 2008

The Department of Health and Ageing conducted the 2008 Community Care Census between February and May 2008, which consisted of a census of three packaged care programs, Community Aged Care Packages (CACP), Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACHD) and a survey of the National Respite for Carers Program (NRCP) respite care services.

You may download this document in PDF format:

PDF printable version of The 2008 Community Care Census - Aged Care Occasional Paper Series No. 1 (PDF 1909 KB)

HTML version of The 2008 Community Care Census - Aged Care Occasional Paper Series No. 1

The 2008 Census was conducted with the aim of improving knowledge about:

• the needs of older people who are dealing with the effects of ageing and wish to continue living in the community for as long as possible; and
• the way service providers operate under these programs to meet the needs of service recipients.

Findings

The information collected through the 2008 Census is comprehensive and provides updated and new information on the needs of care recipients and their carers and the type of services they receive. More information was also sought on the payment of fees, residential respite, sub-contracting of services and aspects of case management and care coordination. The 2008 Census found:

• The number of CACP clients grew by more than 10,000 since 2002, with most growth being in the older age groups. There were around 18 packaged care recipients aged 70 years and over for every 1,000 people in this age group
• The average hours of assistance provided was 6.5 hours per week, 16.2 hours per week and 17.5 hours per week for CACP, EACH and EACHD programs respectively.
• Care recipients were most likely to require assistance with activities related to independent living, with more than 90 per cent requiring assistance with housework and shopping. More than 95 per cent of higher care recipients (EACH and EACHD) required assistance in other areas, such as getting to places out of walking distance. More than 95 per cent of EACHD recipients also required assistance with medicines, travel, handling money, and with memory and organisational skills.
• In 2008, 63 per cent of CACP recipients lived alone compared to 32 and 24 per cent of care recipients in EACH and EACHD programs respectively.
• Around 58 per cent of total care recipients were reported as having a primary carer (55 per cent for CACP, 79 per cent for EACH, and 87 per cent for EACHD).
• Nearly half (47 per cent) of National Respite for Carers Program care recipients were reported as receiving assistance from other programs. The most common other programs through which services were delivered were the Home and Community Care Program (43 per cent of all instances of assistance provided) and packaged care (22 per cent).

Participation

The 2008 Census collected data from 1,242 outlets providing packaged care and/or respite services. Data was collected on 40,284 packaged care recipients, and 8,673 NRCP carers and care recipients.

Like more information?

If you would like more information about the 2008 Census, please view the Census questionnaires and guidelines (Volume 2).
Top of page