More than $2.7 Million Support for Older People from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds

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2 July 2009

Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot was today joined by the Member for Hindmarsh, Steve Georganas, at Multicultural Aged Care in South Australia to announce more than $2.7 million for organisations to help aged care service providers deliver culturally appropriate care.

Multicultural Aged Care in South Australia will over two years receive more than $365,000 of the funding announced today.

The $2.7 million will be provided to the Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care (PICAC) program over the next two years to assist aged care providers deliver culturally appropriate care for older people from non-English speaking backgrounds.

PICAC funds an organisation in each state and territory to work collaboratively with aged care providers, ethnic communities and the Department of Health and Ageing to improve access to culturally specific aged care information and services.
Today’s funding announcement will assist in providing:

• More aged care services delivering culturally appropriate care to older people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities;
• Older people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities with increased access to culturally appropriate residential and community based aged care services including aged care support services; and
• Older people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities having greater capacity to make informed decisions about residential and community based aged care.

The 2006 Census reported that almost a quarter (22 per cent) of Australian residents were born overseas.

Minister Elliot said the continuation of the program was an important investment in older Australians from non-English speaking backgrounds.

“Older people born overseas or from culturally diverse backgrounds may have more difficulty finding out about their aged care options, due to language and cultural barriers.

“Providing information about culturally appropriate care is essential in improving access to care and ensuring their healthy and positive ageing,” Minister Elliot said.

In addition the Rudd Government will be providing more than $15 million in funding for the Community Partners Program over the next three years.

The Community Partners Program funds organisations to provide support for older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to access aged care information and services.

Since the beginning of the Community Partners Program, 743 individual projects have been undertaken with the funding provided. These include:

• 272 projects for service provision and development;
• 160 projects involving networking;
• 98 projects for training; and
• 131 projects for resource development.

Member for Hindmarsh, Steve Georganas said: “Making sure older Australians have access to information on culturally appropriate aged care services is very important.

“We are a diverse society and we are committed to making sure we provide the right services at the right time regardless of a person’s background,” Mr Georganas said.

Minister Elliot said: “Together, these programs contribute to the Government’s commitment to providing culturally appropriate care to older Australians from non-English speaking backgrounds.”

Further information on the Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care program, including contact information for PICAC providers, is available at www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ageing-specneed-picac.htm.

Media Contact: Minister Elliot's office (02) 6277 7280
Steve Georganas 0437 387 378 or Heather Witham 0437 911 276

 

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