Today most Queenslanders can expect to live into their eighties and some beyond. Longer life provides the opportunity to reconsider not only what older age might be but how our whole lives might unfold.
Yet the extent of the opportunities that arise from these extra years of life will be very heavily dependent on one key factor: health. If people are experiencing these years in good health their ability to do things that matter to them will be little different from that of a younger person. If these added years are dominated by decreases in physical or mental capacity the implications for older people and for society are much more negative.
The 2016 Report of the Chief Health Officer Queensland The health of Queenslanders states that it is projected by 2036 that 1 in 5 Queenslanders will be 65 years or older.
The Hospital and Health Services (HHSs) with the largest population of older people are Metro South (20% of the population is 2014), Metro North (19%), Gold Coast (13%) and Sunshine Coast (11%). HHSs with the greatest relative increase in the number of older people between 2014 and 2026 are Torres and cape York (projected to double), West Moreton (projected to grow by 81%) Central Queensland and North West (projected to increase by around two-thirds) and numerous other HHSs growing by at least 50%.
COTA Queensland is working the Brisbane North Older Persons Health Care Services Plan Project Steering Committee to review the final draft of the Healthcare Services Plan for Older People.
The Health care service plan for older people has been developed in partnership by the Brisbane North PHN and Metro North Hospital and Health Service and has been informed by the PHN Annual Plan and the MNHHS Strategic Plan 2016-20 and associated Health Service Strategy 2015-2020. The Plan describes ambitious directions and actions to enhance the health care system to better support the needs of older people who access health care services in Brisbane North. The Plan has been prepared in three parts:
Part A: The health care plan – presents the future directions, success measures and supporting actions that will guide service delivery and enhancement for older people over the next five years. The directions reflect the PHN and MNHHS commitment to:
- Delivering tailored person centred care to older people who live in Brisbane North
- Growing a connected and integrated health care service system that delivers local care wherever possible
- Supporting older people to stay healthy, well and independent
- Providing older people with access to high quality care in our hospitals
- Caring for older people with specific needs
- Advancing continuous improvement in the care of older people
Part B: Context and background – describes the background information that was analysed and informed the development of the future directions contained in Part A. Information described in Part B includes the policy context, current service arrangements, a review of the population and health status of older people who live in Brisbane North together with a summary of the issues and challenges facing the current service environment.
Part C: Implementation, monitoring and review – details the implementation, monitoring and review process that will be implemented on approval of the Plan.
BNPHN CHSP Management Group meeting
COTA Queensland represents consumers on the Brisbane North PHN (Primary Health Network) Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) Management Group which oversees a consortium of Community Care service providers.
In 2016-2017 the members of the Consortium delivered 531,199 sessions of care.
| Allied Health and Therapy Services | Domestic Assistance | Social Support | Specialised Support Services | Transport | Nursing | Personal Care |
| 10,741 | 153,868 | 6,842 | 343 | 3,644 | 2,689 | 8,586 |
ADA Australia provided new Enduring Power of Attorney resources they have produced with funding from the Public Trustee. Information sheets and a video is available from www.adaaustralia.com.au.
Dr Beatriz Cardona Research Fellow from Macquarie University will meet with consortium members on Friday 8 September 2017 to run a workshop on the Australian Community Care Outcomes Measurement tool. This workshop will support our knowledge of evidence-based tools to measure client outcomes.
Older Person-friendly Hospitals
Brisbane Diamantina Health Partnership (BDHP) provides a unique opportunity to develop effective alliances to address system-level barriers and enablers identified in older person friendly care in Queensland hospitals, through work conducted by the BDHP Ageing theme and the Statewide Older Persons’ Health Clinical Network.
COTA Queensland Chief Executive Mark Tucker-Evans participated in a workshop to:
- discuss the local and international context;
- clarify the identified challenges and opportunities in education, research, service delivery and leadership sectors; and
- commence a strategic framework of actions toward the first Older Person Friendly Hospital system in Australasia.
