Short-Term Restorative Care Programme
The Short Term Restorative Care Programme (STRC), in conjunction with the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, Home Care Packages Programme, residential aged care and other specialised aged care programmes, forms part of an end-to-end aged care system offering older people a continuum of care options as their care needs change over time.
If you are eligible for short-term care, you may have to pay a daily fee. The costs you may be asked to pay will vary depending on the type of short-term care you receive.
Apply for an assessment online in 3 easy steps
https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/assessment/apply-online
Before you can access government-subsidised aged care services for the first time, you need to apply for an assessment. Using the online application is quick and easy and will only take 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
It’s the same form to apply for all types of care and support – including help at home, short-term care, and care in an aged care home. You can complete the application yourself or on behalf of a family member or friend. If you’d like to set up an ongoing representative, you can also do that here.
There are three parts. The first checks you are eligible, the second captures your details, and the third confirms who the assessor should call to arrange the assessment. You will need your Medicare card and enough time to complete it.
Start now
All Guides to Aged Care - just click on what YOU want to know NOW:-
https://www.agedcareguide.com.au/information/all
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HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
The Government funding for Short Term Restorative Care (STRC) is equivalent to $205 a day for a maximum of eight weeks. The cost to you is equivalent to 17.5% of a single aged pension. This works out to approximately $10 per day. You cannot be refused service if you are unable to pay this fee due to financial difficulties. Your wellbeing manager can discuss this with you during their first home visit. There are no income tested fees.
Short-term restorative care services may be delivered in a home care setting, a residential care setting, or a combination of both.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care/short-term-restorative-care
Flexible care services
The Department of Health’s aged care regulatory functions have been transferred to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner. As these take effect from 1 January 2020, the content on this page is currently undergoing review. For a summary of key changes, please click here.
Please see our Transitioning to the new Standards page. It includes a transitional arrangements fact sheet about the key changes for approved providers.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care
The Your guide to short-term restorative care consumer booklet:
To find out more about the costs, select the type of short-term care you are eligible for on the short-term care page.
STRC is ideal for people who are:
if an older person suffers a fall at home and is approved for Short-Term Restorative Care, their care provider could arrange for physical therapy with the support of the person’s doctor and allied health professionals, who would work together to identify potential hazards in their home and get them back on their feet.
goal-oriented and have the desire to return to earlier or improved levels of independence
not currently receiving any Commonwealth aged care services in the form of residential care, home care or any other type of flexible care under the Act.
The Aged Care Act 1997 does not specify an age that a person becomes an aged person and eligible to receive aged care services. Any person who meets the eligibility criteria and is approved for STRC by an ACAT, irrespective of their age, may receive STRC. One of the eligibility criteria for STRC is that without STRC, the person will need ongoing care through a home care package or residential care.
You are looking at Part 2 - Care and services for STRC delivered in a home care setting:
https://legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019C00205
Compilation date: 15 March 2019
Includes amendments up to: F2019L00288
Registered: 18 March 2019
STRC that is provided in a home care setting may include the specified care and services listed in Part 2 of Schedule 5 of the Quality of Care Principles 2014
You are clicking on Schedule 5—Care and services for short-term restorative care
Just scroll down a bit to Part 2--Care and services that may be provided in a home care setting
Part 2--Care and services that may be provided in a home care setting
Division 1—Care and services that may be provided
4 Care services
The following table specifies the care services that an approved provider of short‑term restorative care may provide if the care is provided in a home care setting.
Care services
Item Column 1 Column 2
Service Content
4.1 Personal services Personal assistance, including individual attention, individual supervision and physical assistance, with:
(a) bathing, showering including providing shower chairs if necessary, personal hygiene and grooming, dressing and undressing, and using dressing aids; and
(b) toileting; and
(c) dressing and undressing; and
(d) mobility; and
(e) transfer (including in and out of bed).
4.2 Activities of daily living Personal assistance, including individual attention, individual supervision and physical assistance, with communication including assistance to address difficulties arising from impaired hearing, sight or speech, or lack of common language, assistance with the fitting of sensory communication aids, checking hearing aid batteries, cleaning spectacles and assistance in using the telephone.
4.3 Nutrition, hydration, Includes:
meal preparation and diet (a) assistance with preparing meals; and
(b) assistance with special diet for health, religious, cultural or other reasons; and
(c) assistance with using eating utensils and eating aids and assistance with actual feeding, if necessary; and
(d) providing enteral feeding formula and equipment.
4.4 Management of skin integrity Includes providing bandages, dressings, and skin emollients.
4.5 Continence management Includes:
(a) assessment for and, if required, providing disposable pads and absorbent aids, commode chairs, bedpans and urinals, catheter and urinary drainage appliances and enemas; and
(b) assistance in using continence aids and appliances and managing continence.
4.6 Mobility and dexterity Includes:
(a) providing crutches, quadruped walkers, walking frames, walking sticks and wheelchairs; and
(b) providing mechanical devices for lifting, bed rails, slide sheets, sheepskins, tri‑pillows, and pressure relieving mattresses; and
(c) assistance in using the above aids.
5 Support services
The following table specifies the support services that an approved provider of short‑term restorative care may provide if the care is provided in a home care setting.
Support services
Item Column 1 Column 2
Service Content
5.1 Support services Includes:
(a) cleaning; and
(b) personal laundry services, including laundering of care recipient’s clothing and bedding that can be machine‑washed, and ironing; and
(c) arranging for dry‑cleaning of care recipient’s clothing and bedding that cannot be machine‑washed; and
(d) gardening; and
(e) medication management; and
(f) rehabilitative support, or helping to access rehabilitative support, to meet a professionally determined therapeutic need; and
(g) emotional support including ongoing support in adjusting to a lifestyle involving increased dependency and assistance for the care recipient and carer, if appropriate; and
(h) support for care recipients with cognitive impairment, including individual therapy, activities and access to specific programs designed to prevent or manage a particular condition or behaviour, enhance quality of life and provide ongoing support; and
(i) providing 24‑hour on‑call access to emergency assistance including access to an emergency call system if the care recipient is assessed as requiring it; and
(j) transport and personal assistance to help the care recipient shop, visit health practitioners or attend social activities; and
(k) respite care; and
(l) home maintenance, reasonably required to maintain the home and garden in a condition of functional safety and provide an adequate level of security; and
(m) modifications to the home, such as easy access taps, shower hose or bath rails; and
(n) assisting the care recipient, and the homeowner if the home owner is not the care recipient, to access technical advice on major home modifications; and
(o) advising the care recipient on areas of concern in their home that pose safety risks and ways to mitigate the risks; and
(p) arranging social activities and providing or coordinating transport to social functions, entertainment activities and other out‑of‑home services; and
(q) assistance to access support services to maintain personal affairs.
5.2 Leisure, interests and activities Includes encouragement to take part in social and community activities that promote and protect the care recipient’s lifestyle, interests and wellbeing.
6 Clinical services
The following table specifies the clinical services that an approved provider of short‑term restorative care may provide if the care is provided in a home care setting.
Clinical services
Item Column 1 Column 2
Service Content
6.1 Clinical care Includes:
(a) nursing, allied health and therapy services such as speech therapy, podiatry, occupational or physiotherapy services; and
(b) other clinical services such as hearing and vision services.
6.2 Access to other health and
related services Includes referral to health practitioners or other related service providers.
Division 2—Excluded care and services
7 Items that must not be included in package of care and services
Excluded items
Item Column 1 Column 2
7.1 Excluded items The following items must not be included in the package of care and services provided under section 15C:
(a) use of the package funds as a source of general income for the care recipient;
(b) purchase of food, except as part of enteral feeding requirements;
(c) payment for permanent accommodation, including assistance with home purchase, mortgage payments or rent;
(d) payment of flexible care fees;
(e) payment of fees or charges for other types of care funded or jointly funded by the Australian Government;
(f) home modifications or capital items that are not related to the care recipient’s care needs;
(g) travel and accommodation for holidays;
(h) cost of entertainment activities, such as club memberships and tickets to sporting events;
(i) gambling activities;
(j) payment for services and items covered by the Medicare Benefits Schedule or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
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The Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme aims to reverse and/or slow ‘functional decline’ in older people and improve their wellbeing.
Short-term restorative care provides a range of care and services designed for, and approved by, the care recipient for up to eight weeks to help prevent or reduce difficulties they are having with completing everyday tasks. It aims to improve wellbeing and independence to help them continue living in their own home and can be accessed twice in any twelve month period.
Short-term restorative care is delivered by a team of at least three health professionals including a doctor (usually your GP) to identify and treat any medical conditions. Your provider will coordinate the services provided by the care team.
Details of 2018-19 ACAR STRC allocations. Details of the allocations made to successful applicants listed by state/territory, provider and region.
Short-Term Restorative Care place allocations by Provider name:
https://agedcare.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/03_2019/2018-19_acar_allocations_1.pdf
March 2019
South Coast - Southport - Arcare Pty Ltd, Arcare Parkwood, 2 Woodlands Way, PARKWOOD QLD 4214 LGBTI - Dementia - 30 places allocated.
- Ormeau - Oxenford Arcare Pty Ltd, Arcare, Pimpama, 2 Halcyon Drive, PIMPAMA QLD 4209 - Dementia - 6 places allocated.
- Ormeau - Oxenford Gerontic Services Pty Ltd, Upper Coomera, Residential Care, 436 Tamborine-Oxenford Road, UPPER COOMERA QLD 4209 ATSI, LGBTI, R-R, VETS - Dementia - 8 places allocated.
- Broadbeach - Burleigh Infinite Aged Care (SEQ) Pty Ltd, New Service - 2018 - Infinite Care, Mermaid Waters, 259 Rio Vista Boulevard, MERMAID WATERS QLD 4226 - Dementia - 144 places allocated.
- Coolangatta - Japara Aged Care Services Pty Ltd, New Service - 2018 - Tugun, 906 Admiral Crescent, TUGUN QLD 4224 - Dementia - 120 places allocated.
- Gold Coast North - Linbrell Pty Ltd, Paradise Lakes Care Centre, 360 Oxley Drive, RUNAWAY BAY QLD 4216 - Dementia - 110 places allocated.
- Coolangatta - Regis Aged Care Pty Ltd, Regis Palm Beach, 1295 Gold Coast Highway, PALM BEACH QLD 4221 - Dementia - 60 places allocated.
- Coolangatta - RSL Care RDNS Limited, Bolton Clarke Galleon Gardens, 126-138 Galleon Way, CURRUMBIN WATERS QLD 4223 - 2 places allocated.
- Surfers Paradise - RSL Care RDNS Limited, New Service - 2018 - Bolton Clarke Sorrento, 8 Bundall Road, BUNDALL QLD 4217 - 92 places allocated.
The basic fee that a service provider can charge from 1 January 2020:
These rates apply to both single and married people.
You must pay a fee for each day that you have a short-term restorative care place - from the day your care starts, to the day your care ends. This fee is generally paid to your service provider fortnightly or monthly. Your provider may ask you to pay for up to a week of care in advance.
There will not be a national waitlist for STRC services. My Aged Care will refer potential clients to a STRC service provider in their area.
The STRC Programme is an early intervention programme that aims to reverse and/or slow ‘functional decline’ in older people and improve well-being.
Wellness, reablement and restorative approaches are emerging as powerful ways to help older people improve their function, independence and quality of life.
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Frequently Asked Questions
To further assist providers, consumers, and other stakeholders to understand the new programme, frequently asked questions and their corresponding answers have been collated and made available at the link.
New restorative care places to roll out across Australia
https://agedcareinsite.com.au/2019/01/new-restorative-care-places-to-roll-out-across-australia/
31 January 2019
Peak bodies have welcomed the allocation of 775 new short-term restorative care places, announced today by the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care. The additional $58 million in annual funding will see the number of Australians receiving restorative care each year jump from 3088 to 8125.
Ken Wyatt said the program is a proven way of getting older adults back on their feet. Delivered over a period of up to eight weeks, the reablement program often includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and home and furniture modifications. “People want and deserve flexible services when they need them, to restore and maintain their independence for as long as possible,” Wyatt said. “Short-term restorative care boosts health, gets people up and about and improves their wellbeing and outlook on life.”
31 January 2019
Short-term restorative care services may be delivered in a home care setting, a residential care setting, or a combination of both.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care/short-term-restorative-care
Flexible care services
The Department of Health’s aged care regulatory functions have been transferred to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner. As these take effect from 1 January 2020, the content on this page is currently undergoing review. For a summary of key changes, please click here.
Please see our Transitioning to the new Standards page. It includes a transitional arrangements fact sheet about the key changes for approved providers.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care
The Your guide to short-term restorative care consumer booklet:
It builds on the success of the existing Transition Care Programme, which assists older people to return home after a hospital stay.
Short-term restorative care provided in a residential care setting.
Short-term restorative care provided in a home care setting.
STRC services may be delivered in a home care setting, a residential care setting, or a combination of both, depending upon their needs for up to eight weeks.
The client may exit the programme at any time. If you feel that you need different services while still receiving STRC, you need to:
Mr Wyatt says if an older person suffered a fall at home and was approved for Short-Term Restorative Care, their care provider could arrange for physical therapy with the support of the person’s doctor and allied health professionals, who would work together to identify potential hazards in their home and get them back on their feet.
The Department said the STRC is delivered as a tailored and multidisciplinary package of services, including services such as:
The STRC Programme has been established to increase the care options available to older people, through a time-limited, goal-oriented, multi-disciplinary and coordinated package of services. It is designed and approved by the care recipient, and may be delivered in a home setting, a residential setting, or a combination of both.
Short-term restorative care is designed to help you reverse or slow the difficulties you are having with everyday tasks. The program is delivered by a team of health professionals there to help you manage or adapt to your changing needs.
Short-term restorative care | My Aged Care
The new care type builds on the success of the existing Transition Care Programme, which assists older people to return home after a hospital stay. However unlike transition care, STRC will be available to people who have not had a hospital stay.
22 January 2020
Be aware that if you need a hospital admission for a day procedure or for an overnight stay, your Service Provider must provide STRC up to the point of admission and then again from the point of your discharge on the same day or the next day. There is therefore no break in the service episode and your approved provider's subsidy for the episode of care continues.
What is the assessment of frailty and dementia -
How would a person qualify if suffering these conditions?
While the programme is tailored to those clients who show evidence of functional decline, access to STRC is made via an ACAT assessment.
Part of the ACAT team’s role is to consider whether:
While ‘functional decline’ is defined as the ‘reduced ability to perform tasks of everyday living due to a decrease in physical and/or cognitive functioning’, the STRC Programme should also be inclusive of a client’s medical, physical, social and psychological needs.
'Functional decline' is a term used throughout Ageing and Clinical Health literature and is interpreted in a variety of ways . Functional decline is most frequently synonymous with describing the loss of an individual’s physical or mental ability, particularly in reference to individuals aged 65 years or older . The department’s preferred definition defines functional decline as “the reduced ability to perform a task of everyday living due to a detriment on physical and/or cognitive functioning”.
Functional decline can therefore be interpreted as losing the ability to carry out activities of daily living such as:
This new care type will build on the success of the existing Transition care programme that assists older people to return home after a hospital stay. However, unlike transition care, new short-term restorative care will be available to people before they end up in hospital. Since 1 July 2016, new short-term restorative care places will progressively become operational. The new places will be allocated to aged care providers through a competitive process.
More information can be found on the Department’s website at https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/publications-articles/corporate-publications/expansion-of-flexible-care-initiatives
Changes:
- Establish a single integrated Care at Home programme, combining the Commonwealth Home Support Programme and Home Care Packages from July 2018.
- Note that early 2016 was the last ACAR to include home care places. Since 27 February 2017, funding has followed the consumer not the provider, allowing people to choose the care which suits their individual needs and then direct funding to that provider.
Note: Many services are looking to become potential new providers of Home Care Packages since 27 February 2017. They come from home support programs, residential aged care and also new private providers all looking to enter the market. Strong competition would come from labour hire companies that currently supply staff to aged care, home care franchise groups and residential care providers not yet delivering community care. Under the changes, existing residential care providers will be able to 'opt in' to provide home care as part of a simplified process.
Short-term restorative care provides an eight week programme:
- Designed with the care recipient, which provides re-ablement and restorative care services in a home setting, a residential setting, or combination of the two.
- Responsibility for handling aged care complaints transferred to the Aged Care Commissioner from the Department of Social Services on 1 January 2016.
-to establish a form of short-term restorative care to support older people to improve their capacity to remain independent and in their homes longer.
When fully operational, around 12,000 people will benefit each year.
The new short-term restorative care programme will be used to help older people regain independence and function after a setback, like an illness or a fall. It will be provided so they can remain at or return home, rather than entering residential aged care. The new care type will build on the success of the existing transition care programme that assists older people to return home after a hospital stay. These new places allow additional flexibility in how care is accessed and delivered.
Aged care providers will be encouraged to develop and offer a range of consumer focused and innovative models of short-term care to assist older people to improve their health and continue to function in their home and community. From 2016-17, new short-term restorative care places will progressively become available. These new places will build on the current 4,000 transition care places to provide 6,000 short-term restorative care places by 2021, including 2,000 new places. When fully operational, around 12,000 people each year will benefit from these new places.
It is proposed that:
Eligible consumers
Elsewhere, the framework confirmed that to be eligible for an STRC place the care recipient could not be receiving home care or residential aged care, as it was now assumed that both had a reablement focus.
Responding to stakeholder feedback, the STRC’s reference to care recipients having suffered “a setback” was removed to more accurately reflect the often gradual nature of functional decline.
Entry to the STRC would be through My Aged Care with assessment to be undertaken by an Aged Care Assessment Team.
This programme will allow aged care providers to develop and offer restorative care, and will also incorporate the existing Transition Care programme that assists older people to return home after a hospital stay.
23 March 2020
The Short Term Restorative Care Programme (STRC), in conjunction with the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, Home Care Packages Programme, residential aged care and other specialised aged care programmes, forms part of an end-to-end aged care system offering older people a continuum of care options as their care needs change over time.
If you are eligible for short-term care, you may have to pay a daily fee. The costs you may be asked to pay will vary depending on the type of short-term care you receive.
Apply for an assessment online in 3 easy steps
https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/assessment/apply-online
Before you can access government-subsidised aged care services for the first time, you need to apply for an assessment. Using the online application is quick and easy and will only take 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
It’s the same form to apply for all types of care and support – including help at home, short-term care, and care in an aged care home. You can complete the application yourself or on behalf of a family member or friend. If you’d like to set up an ongoing representative, you can also do that here.
There are three parts. The first checks you are eligible, the second captures your details, and the third confirms who the assessor should call to arrange the assessment. You will need your Medicare card and enough time to complete it.
Start now
All Guides to Aged Care - just click on what YOU want to know NOW:-
https://www.agedcareguide.com.au/information/all
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
The Government funding for Short Term Restorative Care (STRC) is equivalent to $205 a day for a maximum of eight weeks. The cost to you is equivalent to 17.5% of a single aged pension. This works out to approximately $10 per day. You cannot be refused service if you are unable to pay this fee due to financial difficulties. Your wellbeing manager can discuss this with you during their first home visit. There are no income tested fees.
Short-term restorative care services may be delivered in a home care setting, a residential care setting, or a combination of both.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care/short-term-restorative-care
Flexible care services
The Department of Health’s aged care regulatory functions have been transferred to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner. As these take effect from 1 January 2020, the content on this page is currently undergoing review. For a summary of key changes, please click here.
Please see our Transitioning to the new Standards page. It includes a transitional arrangements fact sheet about the key changes for approved providers.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care
The Your guide to short-term restorative care consumer booklet:
- outlines the program’s key features and eligibility criteria
- describes the pathway for accessing the program,
- provides a flexible care agreement checklist, and
- identifies key things for consumers to consider.
- The information resource has been designed to support older people and informal carers to understand the program and manage their services.
To find out more about the costs, select the type of short-term care you are eligible for on the short-term care page.
STRC is ideal for people who are:
if an older person suffers a fall at home and is approved for Short-Term Restorative Care, their care provider could arrange for physical therapy with the support of the person’s doctor and allied health professionals, who would work together to identify potential hazards in their home and get them back on their feet.
goal-oriented and have the desire to return to earlier or improved levels of independence
not currently receiving any Commonwealth aged care services in the form of residential care, home care or any other type of flexible care under the Act.
The Aged Care Act 1997 does not specify an age that a person becomes an aged person and eligible to receive aged care services. Any person who meets the eligibility criteria and is approved for STRC by an ACAT, irrespective of their age, may receive STRC. One of the eligibility criteria for STRC is that without STRC, the person will need ongoing care through a home care package or residential care.
You are looking at Part 2 - Care and services for STRC delivered in a home care setting:
https://legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019C00205
Compilation date: 15 March 2019
Includes amendments up to: F2019L00288
Registered: 18 March 2019
STRC that is provided in a home care setting may include the specified care and services listed in Part 2 of Schedule 5 of the Quality of Care Principles 2014
You are clicking on Schedule 5—Care and services for short-term restorative care
Just scroll down a bit to Part 2--Care and services that may be provided in a home care setting
Part 2--Care and services that may be provided in a home care setting
Division 1—Care and services that may be provided
4 Care services
The following table specifies the care services that an approved provider of short‑term restorative care may provide if the care is provided in a home care setting.
Care services
Item Column 1 Column 2
Service Content
4.1 Personal services Personal assistance, including individual attention, individual supervision and physical assistance, with:
(a) bathing, showering including providing shower chairs if necessary, personal hygiene and grooming, dressing and undressing, and using dressing aids; and
(b) toileting; and
(c) dressing and undressing; and
(d) mobility; and
(e) transfer (including in and out of bed).
4.2 Activities of daily living Personal assistance, including individual attention, individual supervision and physical assistance, with communication including assistance to address difficulties arising from impaired hearing, sight or speech, or lack of common language, assistance with the fitting of sensory communication aids, checking hearing aid batteries, cleaning spectacles and assistance in using the telephone.
4.3 Nutrition, hydration, Includes:
meal preparation and diet (a) assistance with preparing meals; and
(b) assistance with special diet for health, religious, cultural or other reasons; and
(c) assistance with using eating utensils and eating aids and assistance with actual feeding, if necessary; and
(d) providing enteral feeding formula and equipment.
4.4 Management of skin integrity Includes providing bandages, dressings, and skin emollients.
4.5 Continence management Includes:
(a) assessment for and, if required, providing disposable pads and absorbent aids, commode chairs, bedpans and urinals, catheter and urinary drainage appliances and enemas; and
(b) assistance in using continence aids and appliances and managing continence.
4.6 Mobility and dexterity Includes:
(a) providing crutches, quadruped walkers, walking frames, walking sticks and wheelchairs; and
(b) providing mechanical devices for lifting, bed rails, slide sheets, sheepskins, tri‑pillows, and pressure relieving mattresses; and
(c) assistance in using the above aids.
5 Support services
The following table specifies the support services that an approved provider of short‑term restorative care may provide if the care is provided in a home care setting.
Support services
Item Column 1 Column 2
Service Content
5.1 Support services Includes:
(a) cleaning; and
(b) personal laundry services, including laundering of care recipient’s clothing and bedding that can be machine‑washed, and ironing; and
(c) arranging for dry‑cleaning of care recipient’s clothing and bedding that cannot be machine‑washed; and
(d) gardening; and
(e) medication management; and
(f) rehabilitative support, or helping to access rehabilitative support, to meet a professionally determined therapeutic need; and
(g) emotional support including ongoing support in adjusting to a lifestyle involving increased dependency and assistance for the care recipient and carer, if appropriate; and
(h) support for care recipients with cognitive impairment, including individual therapy, activities and access to specific programs designed to prevent or manage a particular condition or behaviour, enhance quality of life and provide ongoing support; and
(i) providing 24‑hour on‑call access to emergency assistance including access to an emergency call system if the care recipient is assessed as requiring it; and
(j) transport and personal assistance to help the care recipient shop, visit health practitioners or attend social activities; and
(k) respite care; and
(l) home maintenance, reasonably required to maintain the home and garden in a condition of functional safety and provide an adequate level of security; and
(m) modifications to the home, such as easy access taps, shower hose or bath rails; and
(n) assisting the care recipient, and the homeowner if the home owner is not the care recipient, to access technical advice on major home modifications; and
(o) advising the care recipient on areas of concern in their home that pose safety risks and ways to mitigate the risks; and
(p) arranging social activities and providing or coordinating transport to social functions, entertainment activities and other out‑of‑home services; and
(q) assistance to access support services to maintain personal affairs.
5.2 Leisure, interests and activities Includes encouragement to take part in social and community activities that promote and protect the care recipient’s lifestyle, interests and wellbeing.
6 Clinical services
The following table specifies the clinical services that an approved provider of short‑term restorative care may provide if the care is provided in a home care setting.
Clinical services
Item Column 1 Column 2
Service Content
6.1 Clinical care Includes:
(a) nursing, allied health and therapy services such as speech therapy, podiatry, occupational or physiotherapy services; and
(b) other clinical services such as hearing and vision services.
6.2 Access to other health and
related services Includes referral to health practitioners or other related service providers.
Division 2—Excluded care and services
7 Items that must not be included in package of care and services
Excluded items
Item Column 1 Column 2
7.1 Excluded items The following items must not be included in the package of care and services provided under section 15C:
(a) use of the package funds as a source of general income for the care recipient;
(b) purchase of food, except as part of enteral feeding requirements;
(c) payment for permanent accommodation, including assistance with home purchase, mortgage payments or rent;
(d) payment of flexible care fees;
(e) payment of fees or charges for other types of care funded or jointly funded by the Australian Government;
(f) home modifications or capital items that are not related to the care recipient’s care needs;
(g) travel and accommodation for holidays;
(h) cost of entertainment activities, such as club memberships and tickets to sporting events;
(i) gambling activities;
(j) payment for services and items covered by the Medicare Benefits Schedule or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
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The Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme aims to reverse and/or slow ‘functional decline’ in older people and improve their wellbeing.
Short-term restorative care provides a range of care and services designed for, and approved by, the care recipient for up to eight weeks to help prevent or reduce difficulties they are having with completing everyday tasks. It aims to improve wellbeing and independence to help them continue living in their own home and can be accessed twice in any twelve month period.
Short-term restorative care is delivered by a team of at least three health professionals including a doctor (usually your GP) to identify and treat any medical conditions. Your provider will coordinate the services provided by the care team.
Details of 2018-19 ACAR STRC allocations. Details of the allocations made to successful applicants listed by state/territory, provider and region.
Short-Term Restorative Care place allocations by Provider name:
https://agedcare.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/03_2019/2018-19_acar_allocations_1.pdf
March 2019
South Coast - Southport - Arcare Pty Ltd, Arcare Parkwood, 2 Woodlands Way, PARKWOOD QLD 4214 LGBTI - Dementia - 30 places allocated.
- Ormeau - Oxenford Arcare Pty Ltd, Arcare, Pimpama, 2 Halcyon Drive, PIMPAMA QLD 4209 - Dementia - 6 places allocated.
- Ormeau - Oxenford Gerontic Services Pty Ltd, Upper Coomera, Residential Care, 436 Tamborine-Oxenford Road, UPPER COOMERA QLD 4209 ATSI, LGBTI, R-R, VETS - Dementia - 8 places allocated.
- Broadbeach - Burleigh Infinite Aged Care (SEQ) Pty Ltd, New Service - 2018 - Infinite Care, Mermaid Waters, 259 Rio Vista Boulevard, MERMAID WATERS QLD 4226 - Dementia - 144 places allocated.
- Coolangatta - Japara Aged Care Services Pty Ltd, New Service - 2018 - Tugun, 906 Admiral Crescent, TUGUN QLD 4224 - Dementia - 120 places allocated.
- Gold Coast North - Linbrell Pty Ltd, Paradise Lakes Care Centre, 360 Oxley Drive, RUNAWAY BAY QLD 4216 - Dementia - 110 places allocated.
- Coolangatta - Regis Aged Care Pty Ltd, Regis Palm Beach, 1295 Gold Coast Highway, PALM BEACH QLD 4221 - Dementia - 60 places allocated.
- Coolangatta - RSL Care RDNS Limited, Bolton Clarke Galleon Gardens, 126-138 Galleon Way, CURRUMBIN WATERS QLD 4223 - 2 places allocated.
- Surfers Paradise - RSL Care RDNS Limited, New Service - 2018 - Bolton Clarke Sorrento, 8 Bundall Road, BUNDALL QLD 4217 - 92 places allocated.
The basic fee that a service provider can charge from 1 January 2020:
- up to $10.63 per person per day in a home or community setting
- up to $51.21 per person per day in an aged care home.
These rates apply to both single and married people.
You must pay a fee for each day that you have a short-term restorative care place - from the day your care starts, to the day your care ends. This fee is generally paid to your service provider fortnightly or monthly. Your provider may ask you to pay for up to a week of care in advance.
There will not be a national waitlist for STRC services. My Aged Care will refer potential clients to a STRC service provider in their area.
The STRC Programme is an early intervention programme that aims to reverse and/or slow ‘functional decline’ in older people and improve well-being.
Wellness, reablement and restorative approaches are emerging as powerful ways to help older people improve their function, independence and quality of life.
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Frequently Asked Questions
To further assist providers, consumers, and other stakeholders to understand the new programme, frequently asked questions and their corresponding answers have been collated and made available at the link.
New restorative care places to roll out across Australia
https://agedcareinsite.com.au/2019/01/new-restorative-care-places-to-roll-out-across-australia/
31 January 2019
Peak bodies have welcomed the allocation of 775 new short-term restorative care places, announced today by the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care. The additional $58 million in annual funding will see the number of Australians receiving restorative care each year jump from 3088 to 8125.
Ken Wyatt said the program is a proven way of getting older adults back on their feet. Delivered over a period of up to eight weeks, the reablement program often includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and home and furniture modifications. “People want and deserve flexible services when they need them, to restore and maintain their independence for as long as possible,” Wyatt said. “Short-term restorative care boosts health, gets people up and about and improves their wellbeing and outlook on life.”
31 January 2019
Short-term restorative care services may be delivered in a home care setting, a residential care setting, or a combination of both.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care/short-term-restorative-care
Flexible care services
The Department of Health’s aged care regulatory functions have been transferred to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner. As these take effect from 1 January 2020, the content on this page is currently undergoing review. For a summary of key changes, please click here.
Please see our Transitioning to the new Standards page. It includes a transitional arrangements fact sheet about the key changes for approved providers.
https://myagedcare.gov.au/short-term-care
The Your guide to short-term restorative care consumer booklet:
- outlines the program’s key features and eligibility criteria
- describes the pathway for accessing the program,
- provides a flexible care agreement checklist, and
- identifies key things for consumers to consider.
- The information resource has been designed to support older people and informal carers to understand the program and manage their services.
It builds on the success of the existing Transition Care Programme, which assists older people to return home after a hospital stay.
Short-term restorative care provided in a residential care setting.
Short-term restorative care provided in a home care setting.
STRC services may be delivered in a home care setting, a residential care setting, or a combination of both, depending upon their needs for up to eight weeks.
The client may exit the programme at any time. If you feel that you need different services while still receiving STRC, you need to:
- Think about other types of services that could meet Your needs. You can include these in your Care Plan.
- Talk with your STRC service provider about changing their care plan to meet Your needs.
- If you have received Transition Care, you cannot access STRC until 6 months has elapsed since discharge. This exclusion exists to ensure that STRC and Transition Care remain two distinct, yet complementary programmes.
- Remember that unlike STRC, Transition Care episodes are able to be extended. This period of extension is more appropriate than a STRC approval.
- The policy framework confirmed that the places can be provided in the client’s home, a residential setting, or a combination of both.
- The department would not “prescribe specific care and services that must be provided under the STRC,” with providers encouraged to develop individualized approaches.
- There will not be a national waitlist for STRC services. My Aged Care will refer potential clients to a STRC service provider in their area.
- “Because of the eight week duration of each care package, up to 3,000 people a year will be able to access the program through the initial 475 places,” says Mr Wyatt.
“As more places are allocated over the next five years, up to 13,000 people will be potentially able to access this care each year.”
Mr Wyatt says if an older person suffered a fall at home and was approved for Short-Term Restorative Care, their care provider could arrange for physical therapy with the support of the person’s doctor and allied health professionals, who would work together to identify potential hazards in their home and get them back on their feet.
The Department said the STRC is delivered as a tailored and multidisciplinary package of services, including services such as:
- Physiotherapy
- Social Work
- Nursing Support
- Personal Care and the
- Provision of Assistive Technologies to support older people to regain their independence and autonomy.
The STRC Programme has been established to increase the care options available to older people, through a time-limited, goal-oriented, multi-disciplinary and coordinated package of services. It is designed and approved by the care recipient, and may be delivered in a home setting, a residential setting, or a combination of both.
Short-term restorative care is designed to help you reverse or slow the difficulties you are having with everyday tasks. The program is delivered by a team of health professionals there to help you manage or adapt to your changing needs.
Short-term restorative care | My Aged Care
The new care type builds on the success of the existing Transition Care Programme, which assists older people to return home after a hospital stay. However unlike transition care, STRC will be available to people who have not had a hospital stay.
22 January 2020
Be aware that if you need a hospital admission for a day procedure or for an overnight stay, your Service Provider must provide STRC up to the point of admission and then again from the point of your discharge on the same day or the next day. There is therefore no break in the service episode and your approved provider's subsidy for the episode of care continues.
What is the assessment of frailty and dementia -
How would a person qualify if suffering these conditions?
While the programme is tailored to those clients who show evidence of functional decline, access to STRC is made via an ACAT assessment.
Part of the ACAT team’s role is to consider whether:
- the client has cognitive difficulties, or
- behavioural problems related to such difficulties and/or
- the presence of depression or delirium, with specific regard to:
- evidence of verbal and physical aggressiveness and disruption, self-destructive behaviour, confusion and/or impaired judgement, reasoning or attention, and
- medical tests or investigations carried out by the client’s GP or medical specialist for a more detailed picture of their cognitive status.
- Other psychosocial factors such as the person’s experience of loneliness, bereavement or loss of motivation, and their impact on cognitive functioning also need to be considered.
- It may be appropriate for the ACAT to refer the client for specialist psychogeriatric evaluation .
- It is noted that ACATs should foster links with dementia specific services, including Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory Services (DBMAS), and where relevant, include this expertise in the assessment process. This will facilitate an understanding of the needs of ageing people with dementia and their carers and assist improved linkages, integrated care and access.
- If a person is frail or suffers dementia and functional decline is evident, an Aged Care Assessment Team is best placed to determine which programme best meets the person’s needs.
While ‘functional decline’ is defined as the ‘reduced ability to perform tasks of everyday living due to a decrease in physical and/or cognitive functioning’, the STRC Programme should also be inclusive of a client’s medical, physical, social and psychological needs.
'Functional decline' is a term used throughout Ageing and Clinical Health literature and is interpreted in a variety of ways . Functional decline is most frequently synonymous with describing the loss of an individual’s physical or mental ability, particularly in reference to individuals aged 65 years or older . The department’s preferred definition defines functional decline as “the reduced ability to perform a task of everyday living due to a detriment on physical and/or cognitive functioning”.
Functional decline can therefore be interpreted as losing the ability to carry out activities of daily living such as:
- bathing, dressing,
- feeding,
- shopping or
- driving,
- due to increasing age or frailty.
This new care type will build on the success of the existing Transition care programme that assists older people to return home after a hospital stay. However, unlike transition care, new short-term restorative care will be available to people before they end up in hospital. Since 1 July 2016, new short-term restorative care places will progressively become operational. The new places will be allocated to aged care providers through a competitive process.
More information can be found on the Department’s website at https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/publications-articles/corporate-publications/expansion-of-flexible-care-initiatives
Changes:
- Establish a single integrated Care at Home programme, combining the Commonwealth Home Support Programme and Home Care Packages from July 2018.
- Note that early 2016 was the last ACAR to include home care places. Since 27 February 2017, funding has followed the consumer not the provider, allowing people to choose the care which suits their individual needs and then direct funding to that provider.
Note: Many services are looking to become potential new providers of Home Care Packages since 27 February 2017. They come from home support programs, residential aged care and also new private providers all looking to enter the market. Strong competition would come from labour hire companies that currently supply staff to aged care, home care franchise groups and residential care providers not yet delivering community care. Under the changes, existing residential care providers will be able to 'opt in' to provide home care as part of a simplified process.
Short-term restorative care provides an eight week programme:
- Designed with the care recipient, which provides re-ablement and restorative care services in a home setting, a residential setting, or combination of the two.
- Responsibility for handling aged care complaints transferred to the Aged Care Commissioner from the Department of Social Services on 1 January 2016.
-to establish a form of short-term restorative care to support older people to improve their capacity to remain independent and in their homes longer.
When fully operational, around 12,000 people will benefit each year.
The new short-term restorative care programme will be used to help older people regain independence and function after a setback, like an illness or a fall. It will be provided so they can remain at or return home, rather than entering residential aged care. The new care type will build on the success of the existing transition care programme that assists older people to return home after a hospital stay. These new places allow additional flexibility in how care is accessed and delivered.
Aged care providers will be encouraged to develop and offer a range of consumer focused and innovative models of short-term care to assist older people to improve their health and continue to function in their home and community. From 2016-17, new short-term restorative care places will progressively become available. These new places will build on the current 4,000 transition care places to provide 6,000 short-term restorative care places by 2021, including 2,000 new places. When fully operational, around 12,000 people each year will benefit from these new places.
It is proposed that:
- Eligibility for the program will be assessed by Aged Care Assessment Teams through My Aged Care, and referrals would lapse after six months to emphasise its early intervention focus.
- Service duration will be for up to eight weeks (56 days) per episode of care, with no extensions granted. (This timeframe is based on the average length of stay for completed episodes of transition care.) It is envisioned that there be $190. per day as a flexible care subsidy to the Provider to the new STRC program.
- Access to the program will be limited to a maximum of two episodes per year for individuals and each episode will require a separate approval by an ACAT. This is to deter ongoing service use, the department said. This is to reduce the need for ongoing care.
- To receive an allocation of places a provider must be an approved provider of flexible care under the Aged Care Act. The department is seeking feedback on whether providers should also be required to be a provider of home and/or residential aged care to allow the quality framework to be applied more easily and enable transition between care settings.
Eligible consumers
Elsewhere, the framework confirmed that to be eligible for an STRC place the care recipient could not be receiving home care or residential aged care, as it was now assumed that both had a reablement focus.
Responding to stakeholder feedback, the STRC’s reference to care recipients having suffered “a setback” was removed to more accurately reflect the often gradual nature of functional decline.
Entry to the STRC would be through My Aged Care with assessment to be undertaken by an Aged Care Assessment Team.
This programme will allow aged care providers to develop and offer restorative care, and will also incorporate the existing Transition Care programme that assists older people to return home after a hospital stay.
23 March 2020