THE CHANGING AVAILABILITY OF RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE IN AUSTRALIA

Australian aged care services have undergone a series of substantial r eforms in recent years under the rubric of the Aged Care Reform Strate gy. Overall, there has been a progressive refinement of the targeting of available services on those most in need, defined in terms of both disability levels and financial resources. A key component of this pro cess has been a deliberate reduction in the relative emphasis accorded to nursing home care within the aged care system. This has been accom panied by increases in the resources directed toward less intensive fo rms of residential care (hostels) and community based services. This p aper explores the actual consequences of these intentional policy Chan ges in terms of the availability of nursing home and hostel care, and the changing characteristics of nursing home residents. The results su ggest that a more substantial reduction has occurred in the availabili ty of nursing home care than has hitherto been suggested, with consequ ent decreases in the proportion of aged persons in nursing homes, The effect has been particularly marked amongst women and the very old. Th ese findings raise policy questions about the appropriateness of curre nt and planned future levels of provision.