The recently announced Australian Government initiatives and the Aged Care Royal Commission’s interim report highlighted the lack of data available around young people in aged care. The Summer Foundation has been working to address this for a long time.
A report we released earlier this year aims to better understand the needs of young people who live in aged care.
Our research team’s Young People in Residential Aged Care (2017 – 2018) A Snapshot, provides critical information for organisations and government bodies that can create the systems change needed to resolve the issue.
The report analysed the 2017–2018 administrative data available for aged care in Australia. At 30 June 2018, it found that across the country there were 6,048 people aged under 65 living in permanent aged care.
About 50 young Australians entered aged care each week in 2017–2018, with 5 of them aged 50 or under. Of the 1,853 young people who left aged care only about 1 in 10 returned to family or home, while more than half died.
Almost all young people in aged care have substantial support needs for mobility, personal care and cognitive impairment.
While most young people in aged care have a disability and should be eligible for the NDIS, only 66 per cent were enrolled.
The Snapshot provides both a national view and a state-by-state breakdown about where young people are living in aged care and what their needs are.
You can see the report here.