At-home care recipients in hospital longer compared to aged care residents

Older individuals receiving home care packages spend more than twice the number of days in hospital compared to those in residential aged care, reveals new research from the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) at SAHMRI.

The national data included people aged 65 years and older from around Australia, with 203,278 individuals living in residential aged care and 118,999 receiving home care packages in the community.

“We found individuals receiving home care packages spent 7745 days in hospital per 1000 individuals, compared to 3049 days for individuals living in residential aged care,” said lead author Dr Stephanie Harrison, senior research fellow, ROSA at SAHMRI and Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia.

“These people had more ED presentations, and unplanned and potentially preventable hospital visits,” Harrison said.

The study, published in the Australian Health Review, involved collaboration between Flinders University, the University of South Australia and the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. It examined emergency department (ED) presentations, unplanned hospitalisations, potentially preventable hospitalisations and time in hospital.

Individuals with home care packages accounted for 43% of ED presentations, 40% of unplanned hospitalisations and 12% of preventable hospitalisations.

This was contrasted by 38%, 33% and 8% in the same categories for individuals living in residential aged care. Unplanned hospitalisations and ED presentations are burdensome both for patients and the health system.

These findings highlight the challenges faced in long-term care settings, particularly for those receiving home care, and the need for further efforts to address high rates of unplanned hospitalisations and ED presentations experienced by an increasing number of older Australians.

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