Team: Associate Professor Debbie Faulkner, Dr Helen Barrie, Dr Kathryn Seymour and Ms Susie Duggin
Issue
Broadly this research, with a focus on the home care sector, will consider the current challenges and opportunities for building trust in Australia's aged care system.
Over time there have been numerous reviews of the aged care system, and since the early 1980s, the sector has undergone four major reforms. The Productivity Commission’s 2011 Report on Caring for Older Australians outlined the difficulties confronting Australia’s aged care system and made recommendations to provide a more tailored, and financially sustainable, aged care system to meet the needs of Australia’s ageing population (Commonwealth of Australia 2012).
In 2018 however following reviews of the aged care system and reports to the media of poor care, the government established the Aged Care Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Haupt 2019). One of the terms of reference of the Royal Commission was ‘how to create an aged care system which is consumer oriented, allowing for choice and control for residents and users.’
The government has injected funding, and in light of the reforms underway, improving the experiences of older people with the aged care system ultimately is reliant on aged care service organisations providing responsive and sustainable services.
In addressing the needs of the aged care system and its participants the government recognised the need for fundamental and systemic change with reforms ‘being based on entitlement to the supports and services each individual needs (Storen 2021). A major feature of the reforms is a new rights based Act to replace the existing Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth).
A 2023 government report on Trust in Australian public services (Australian Public Service Commission) list aged care as the 12th most trusted service out of a list of 17. Returning trust is seen as the biggest challenge for the aged care sector (Ministers for the Department of Social Services 2023).
This study will examine the level of trust and look at ways of building trust in South Australia's aged care system. As part of the data collection, there are three surveys being undertaken including:
- Organisations working in the aged care sector (Aged Care Provider Survey)
- Older people receiving home care services through a Home Care Package (HCP) or the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) (Older Person’s Survey)
- Carer caring informally or formally for an older person receiving HCP or CHSP (Carer’ s Survey)
Aim
The primary aims of this research are: 1) to understand the level of trust older people have in the aged care system now and potentially as a result of the reforms underway in aged care as a result of the Royal Commission? 2) to understand the perception of aged care providers about the level of trust older people have in the aged care system? 3) to compare and contrast aged care provider's understanding of older people's trust in this aspect of the aged care system in South Australia? 4) To consider to what extend and how aged care providers can build trust in the aged care system 5) to examine the barriers and opportunities to building trust 6) To critically interrogate the findings in light of the aged care reforms - in particular the Aged Care Standards and Charter of Aged Care Rights.
Outcomes
In conducting this study to explore the level of trust older people and carers have in the aged care system we hope to help uncover ways to assist in improving the experiences of older people within the aged care system.
