Aged Care Program Highlights

Program Highlights - September 2022

Dear aged care stakeholder,

Our CEO Learne Durrington contacted you in June to set out WA Primary Health Alliance’s (WAPHA) high level aims for its Aged Care Program.

We are now pleased to send you this more detailed update, as we firm up on and roll out activities in this area.

Our intention is for Aged Care Connect to be our regular communications with the aged care sector going forward. We hope you find this informative and encourage you to share it with your networks.

Learn more about the PHN Aged Care Program

Care finder program tender now open

WAPHA opened a tender to commission care finder services on 8 September 2022, coinciding with PHNs nationally. The care finder program will support new face-to-face services for older vulnerable Australians who may require intensive support to navigate access to aged care services and community supports, including interactions with My Aged Care. This procurement has been informed by the priorities identified in a needs assessment.

The tender will remain open for four weeks until 6 October 2022. A non-mandatory online information session will be held on 22 September 2022. Please visit our commissioned services page here for further information about the tender briefing and on how to submit an application.

Organisations awarded a care finder contract will be in place ahead of the 1 January 2023 start of the service. Learn more

Optimising Primary Care Coordination for People Living in Residential Aged Care Facilities (National Partnership Agreement)

WAPHA has launched an expression of interest via grant process with eligible residential aged care facilities (RACFs) to establish and fund a dedicated clinical coordinator role within RACFs to liaise with GPs, co-ordinate case conferencing and engage GPs in RACF quality improvement.

The final date for RACFs to submit their response is 5:00 pm 16 September 2022. To request further information please contact Senior Contract Officer Cindy Ong cindy.ong@wapha.org.au

The intended outcomes of the project will be to:

Improve resident and family/carer access to primary care and quality end-of-life and palliative care
Improve coordination of primary care in RACFs
Manage residents’ end-of-life and palliative care health needs to include access to timely and appropriate medication
Implement systems and processes to support the sustainable delivery of primary care coordination for general practice and RACFs.

The three successful RACFs funded for the project are expected to be announced September 2022 (grant opportunity available until June 2024, made possible through the WA Department of Health NPA Grant). A summary of the 2021 GP consultation key themes: current interaction with palliative care, case conferencing, additional GP support and funding recommendations is available here

Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care Measure

WAPHA recognises that GPs play a crucial role in the provision of palliative and end-of-life care and are critical in supporting the choice of their patients to remain at home. On 16 August 2022, select members of WAPHA’s Care of the Older Person Special Interest Panel met to enable WAPHA to ensure the interests, knowledge and expertise of GPs informs the design and delivery of the Greater Choices for At Home Palliative Care (GCfAHPC) Measure across the three WA Primary Health Networks operated by WAPHA

Questions relating to how GPs provide palliative care to people living in their home and how to recognise patients that require a palliative care approach were discussed. A summary is available here

Understanding current systems, training and resources in primary palliative care is a key focus of the program’s needs assessment via GP focus groups. The ongoing consultation will guide the project team’s delivery of recommendations in the coming months.

Aged Care and Dementia HealthPathways

The HealthPathways WA team are reviewing and updating several Older Adults and Dementia pathways, with the Driver Assessment – Cognitive Impairment and Dementia being the most recently reviewed. Work is also underway on the following pathways and request pages:

Dementia
Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia
Dementia Support Services
Weight Management and Nutrition in Older Adults
Acute Geriatric Assessment
Non-Acute Geriatric Assessment

WAPHA will continue consultation on HealthPathways and work to increase the awareness, engagement and utilisation of aged care HealthPathways. Learn more

Dementia Consumer Pathway Resources

In collaboration with Dementia Australia (WA), WAPHA is working to identify and develop suitable localised digital and print resources for those living with dementia, their families and carers.

Current clinical tools and resources can be found on the Dementia Australia website, including the Building Dementia Practice in Primary Care Practice Guide.

The supplementary Consumer Dementia resources community consultation will be conducted by WAPHA from September 2022 to ensure dementia community service guides and resources are developed, appropriate to local needs within the three Primary Health Networks.

Dementia Consumer Pathways Resources are expected to be published by 1 January 2023 onto WAPHA’s partner health service community navigator website, My Community Directory

Early Intervention for Older Adults with Chronic Conditions

This measure will seek to support older adults (65 years and over for non-Aboriginal people and 50 years and over for Aboriginal people) who are at risk or are living in the community with one or more diagnosed chronic conditions and would benefit from being better connected to necessary psychosocial, health and welfare supports.

Needs assessment data is being reviewed and options for service development are being collated.

Supporting Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) to increase use and availability of telehealth for aged care residents

Following a call out to RACFs for submitting their interest to improve telehealth use and availability in statewide RACFs, WAPHA is now planning for equipment scoping and technical requirements assessments with facilities to establish telehealth capabilities. The telehealth project advocates to increase use and availability of telehealth within RACFs to avoid unnecessary transfer to hospital, digital enablement through RACF registration with My Health Record and increasing staff confidence with the right training to support residents. Learn more

You are receiving this email as an interested party for activities relating to the Primary Health Network Aged Care Program or have signed up through our website. All enquiries related to the Aged Care Program should be attention to Lisa Ryan, Senior Policy Advisor- Aged Care lisa.ryan@wapha.org.au.

Our mailing address is:

WA Primary Health Alliance Level 2, 1 Hood Street Subiaco, WA 6008 Australia

Disclaimer

WA Primary Health Alliance’s publications and the material within them are intended for use by health professionals for general information purposes and do not replace clinical decision making. Please read our full disclaimer.

While the Australian Government contributed funding for this material, it has not reviewed the content and is not responsible for any injury, loss or damage however arising from the use of or reliance on the information provided herein.

PO Box 883, Subiaco, WA 6904

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