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Information Sheet 21 - Support for older Australians living in rural and remote communities

Information sheet on Support for older Australians living in rural and remote communities

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The Australian Government is committed to ensuring continued access to aged care services for frail older people living in rural and remote areas of Australia, at a level of provision that meets the Government’s overall aged care benchmarks.

People who live in rural and remote areas are identified as people with special needs under the Aged Care Act 1997. This means that their ageing needs are taken into account in the aged care planning process.

Planning for Residential Aged Care services

The aged care planning process ensures that aged care places are provided in rural and remote areas in proportion to the number of older people who live there. To address the ongoing need for aged care services in these areas, new aged care places and Capital Grants are made available each year under the Aged Care Approvals Round.

Other Aged Care options

Other services for people in rural and remote areas are available through the following:

• Commonwealth HACC Program;
• Community Aged Care packages;
• Extended Aged Care at Home packages;
• Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia packages; and
• National Respite for Carers Program.

In addition to the above services which are currently available for all older Australians, flexible aged care services are available in regional, rural and remote areas. Flexible age care, such as Multipurpose Services, means that a range of aged care services can be provided in one place and that the services can change the type of options provided along with the changing needs of their local communities.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (the Program) funds organisations to provide flexible, culturally appropriate aged care, to older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people close to home and community. There are 28 services funded under the Program mainly located in rural and remote areas of Australia. The aged care services under the Program may provide residential and/or community aged care services to meet the changing needs of the community.

As part of the Living Longer Living Better aged care reform package announced by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Ageing on 20 April 2012, $43.1 million will be made available over the next 5 years. This will result in around 200 additional aged care places being made available in Indigenous communities, some of these in new residential aged care services.

Extra support for aged care services

The Australian Government recognises that aged care services operating in regional, rural and remote Australia face special challenges in delivering care. Therefore, a number of financial assistance initiatives are available to improve the quality, range and flexibility of these services.

Effective from 1 July 2011, the 2011/12 Budget provided an additional $16 million over 1 year to enhance Viability Funding for Residential Aged Care and enable service providers to continue to provide high quality care.

Since January 2007, community aged care services have also been eligible to receive a new Community Care Viability Supplement to improve standards. This has been made available through a $19.4 million allocation over a four year period.

The above supplements assist aged care services to remain viable, meet required building and care standards, as well as expand the number of places or establish new services.

For more information

Information about the location and types of aged care services available specifically for older people living in rural and remote areas is available by calling 1800 200 422.*

For more general information about aged care support services, including copies of other Information Sheets, call 1800 200 422*, or visit the Department of Health and Ageing web site.

*Cost of phone calls

• Calls to 1800 numbers are generally free to the caller when made from a land line.
• Calls to 13 or 1300 numbers are charged at a low fixed amount to the caller when made from a land line.
• All calls made from mobile phones are charged at the rates applicable to each phone provider.
• All calls made from public phones are charged at the rates applicable to each phone provider.

All information in this publication is correct as at March 2013

Disclaimer: This document is only a guide to the Government’s law and policies, and cannot take account of individual circumstances. The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing recommends that you seek appropriate professional advice relevant to your particular situation.

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