Access

Access Points Research & Development

This area of work seeks to make entry to community care easier through the research & development of nationally consistent entry points (Access Points).

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Background

In 2002, the Department of Health and Ageing initiated a review of all community care programs funded by the Australian Government. Research associated with the review identified that from the consumer and carer point of view:

• the system was confusing and complex to navigate
• there were gaps and overlaps in the system
• it was unclear about where to go for services
• it was hard to find out what services were available and how eligibility was determined
• it was sometimes necessary to go through multiple assessments.

The Australian Government and State and Territory Governments established the Community and Aged Care Officials (CACO) to guide work to improve the delivery of community care. The work was defined within A New Strategy for Community Care – the Way Forward. One component of The Way Forward is to make entry to community care easier through the development of nationally consistent 'Access Points'.

The Way Forward strategy notes that the Australian Government will "work with State and Territory Governments to identify entry points [Access Points] that can be easily accessed by consumers seeking community care services, based on existing infrastructure."

CACO recommended 'Access Point Demonstration Projects' be developed in each State and Territory. These could be evaluated before options were considered for broader roll-out across the country. This approach was endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in February 2006.

To further assist State and Territory Governments to introduce consistent changes, an Eligibility and Assessment Working Group (EAWG) is guiding work on Access Point Demonstration Projects. The EAWG is comprised of representatives from the Department of Health and Ageing, Department of Veterans’ Affairs and each State and Territory Government.

Role & Functions

In March 2007, EAWG agreed that the Access Point Demonstration Projects would work towards using nationally consistent eligibility and intake processes and follow common principles regarding functions and data collection.

The EAWG also noted that each project could have different organisational arrangements to suit local contexts, and build on existing community care infrastructure in each location.

The agreed functions of Access Point Demonstration Projects include:

• providing information about community care services
• providing advice on eligibility for services
• conducting a broad and shallow assessment of a person's needs (including the carer)
• facilitating referrals to community care service providers or to other specialised or comprehensive assessors as appropriate.

The work on Access Point Demonstration Projects to date has, where possible, strengthened current pathways, built upon current infrastructure and services and considered the interfaces with other sectors such as primary care, acute care, residential aged care and disability services.

The purpose of this document is to present a summary of the work plan to define and develop Access Points. An Overview of the current status of Access Point Demonstration Projects is available at Access Points Project Status Update on this website. Top of page

Phased Development

Work on Access Points is being conducted in four phases.

Phase One: Planning and Design

Phase One involved research and analysis to help define options and organisational models for possible Access Point Demonstration Projects. Throughout 2007 each State and Territory consulted with service providers and peak bodies to:

1. identify the pathways and points/places that clients and carers currently use to obtain community care services
2. identify and map current and planned infrastructure (including Information Technology systems) as well as the service organisations that were already providing some Access Point functions within the community services, health and disability sectors
3. highlight regional, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse needs and issues regarding client access, sensitivities, and service provider infrastructure and capacity.

The information and data from these mapping exercises were used to inform the planning and design of the Access Point Demonstration Projects. As a result, a number of options for project design were considered to build on local infrastructure. Various capabilities and resources were identified as important in the selection of service providers to operate the Demonstration Projects. These included:

• knowledge and understanding of the community care sector
• ability to support change, including the ability to respond to changing requirements throughout the demonstration phase with appropriate management support
• appropriately skilled staff and infrastructure such as IT systems
• willingness to trial new business processes, referral pathways and assessment processes and to participate in evaluation activities
• demonstrated adherence to relevant quality reporting framework standards and contractual requirements
• ability to collect and submit data for reporting and evaluation purposes
• flexibility in responding to and meeting the requirements of special needs groups.

Mapping data also guided work to identify Access Point Demonstration Project 'catchment' areas.

Other aspects of design and planning included:

• establishing jurisdictional steering committees to guide the projects and defining their roles and responsibilities
• determining how referrals would work in each catchment area
• identifying relevant assessment processes
• developing an evaluation process.

Phase Two: Site Development

This phase involves the establishment of Access Point Demonstration Projects at selected sites across Australia. Up to 13 Demonstration Projects have been identified. As at November 2008, nine are operating in five states and territories.

A significant component of this phase focuses on capacity building within each Demonstration Project. During the first three months of operation, each Project identified what capabilities they could implement to:

• provide information on community care programs
• conduct assessments of need
• guide referrals to service providers
• collect information to aid evaluation

Next, the Demonstration Projects are focusing on development of procedures and business processes, training, building sector awareness and communicating to the target audience in each area.

Phase Three: Evaluation and Expansion

This phase involves the ongoing refinement of operations and consideration of possible expansion of Access Points across Australia.

All Projects are being evaluated as a part of the National Evaluation of Access Point Demonstration Projects. All Demonstration Projects are being evaluated on an ongoing basis as they become operational. The information gathered from national, state/territory and local level evaluations will be used to develop recommendations for operational improvements. The expected timeframe for this phase is January 2008 through June 2009.

Phase Four: Consideration of Broader Roll-out

The aim of Phase Four is to develop strategies to assist decisions about the broader implementation of Access Points across the country. The focus will be on the findings from the Phase Three evaluation.

Feedback from the sector, service recipients and carers regarding the assessment and referral processes used, as well as the phone and contact arrangements, will assist in informing the wider roll-out of Access Points. Other aspects that will be examined include resource requirements, training implications, implementation timeframes and their potential impact within each region.

The resulting strategies will consider longer term implementation options for Access Points at a national and jurisdictional level. The expected timeframe for this phase is April 2009 to December 2009 and is dependant on current Council of Australian Governments considerations relating to roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments in funding and regulating for aged care, mental health and disability services.
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