About the program
The program provides short-term care for older people to help them recover after a hospital stay.
Transition care can last up to 12 weeks and take place in:
- an aged care (nursing) home
- a person’s home
- a combination of the two.
If you’re an older person and want to find out more, go to transition care (after a hospital stay) on the My Aged Care website.
What it provides
The program provides up to 12 weeks of transition care to help older people:
- fully recover after a hospital stay
- regain functionality or mobility
- finalise ongoing care arrangements.
If you’re an older person and want to find out more, read the program information for patients and care recipients.
Why it's important
We know that many older Australians want to stay in their own home as they age. One way to achieve this is to provide older people with more time and care to fully recover after a hospital stay.
This will help older Australians to:
- remain independent in their homes
- delay their entry into an aged care home for as long as possible
- avoid the need for long-term care.
Funding
The Australian Government provide funding through flexible care subsidies. The Government pays these to state and territory governments as the approved providers.
The state and territory governments must provide a co-contribution through:
- in-kind contributions
- direct funding to the contracted or sub-contracted services.
Service providers can also request fees from care recipients, if they can afford to contribute to the cost of their care.
For details on the subsidy amount, read Aged Care (Subsidy, Fees and Payments) Amendment (July Indexation) Determination 2022 Schedule 1, Section 1, Item 29 – Subsection 106(2); and Item 30 – Subsection 103 (3).
Additional Places
Following an application process 240 permanent transition care places were created for states and territories in April 2022. View the Ministerial Determination creating these places under subsection 12-3(1) of the Aged Care Act 1997.
These replaced the 240 temporary places originally allocated in 2019 and 2020, which expired on 30 June 2022.
Oversight
The Australian Government develops program policy and allocates transition care places to state and territory governments.
State and territory governments are responsible for:
- day to day management of the programme
- delivering transition care to program recipients
- choosing the best way to meet local service needs and individual care needs.
A 2019 review of the Transition Care Programme found the program has supported the early discharge of older people from hospital and can help delay their entry into residential care.
If you are a transition care provider, see the Program information for service providers and transition care programme guidelines.
Transition Care Programme resources
Contact
