Journal
AUSTRALIAN HEALTH REVIEW
Volume 46, Issue 4, Pages 432-441Publisher
CSIRO PUBLISHING
DOI: 10.1071/AH22049
Keywords
aged care; dementia; health services; mental health; older adults; policy; primary care; psychiatry; psychology
Funding
- Australian Government Medical Research Future Fund [PHRDI000009]
- South Australian Health and Medical Research Institut
- ECH Inc
- Silver Chain
- The Hospital Research Foundation Mid-Career Fellowship [MCF-27-2019]
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant [APP119378]
- The Hospital Research Foundation Early-Career Fellowship [ECF-2019-33-25271]
- Medical Research Future Fund/National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant [APP1194084]
- Life Care
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The utilization of government-subsidized mental health services among aged care residents in Australia is generally low, indicating a need for organizational and policy changes to improve access. People with dementia face barriers in accessing these services.
Objective. To describe patterns of use of the available Government-subsidised mental health services among people living in Australian residential aged care facilities. Methods. A retrospective population-based trend analysis was conducted, including all non-Indigenous people living in an Australian facility between 2012 and 2017. Adjusted incidence proportions and trends were estimated for four groups of mental health services. Results. The use of Medicare-subsidised mental health services was very low overall. The proportion of residents who accessed primary care mental health services increased from 1.3% in 2012/2013 to 2.4% in 2016/2017, while psychiatry service use increased from 1.9 to 2.3%. Claims for clinical psychology increased from 0.18 to 0.26%, and claims for a registered psychologist, occupational therapist or social worker rose from 0.45 to 1.2%. People with dementia were less likely than people without dementia to access all services aside from psychiatry services. Conclusion. Less than 3% of residents accessed funding subsidies for mental health services and people with dementia experienced pronounced barriers to service access. Mental health care is a pillar of the publicly-funded health system in Australia, and low use of these services among aged care residents indicates a need for organisational and policy changes to improve access.
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