Care Finders
Care Finders provides free support to older people who are eligible for Commonwealth-funded aged care but may have difficulty accessing services on their own.
Community need
The Care Finder program was established in response to the findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which found that Australia’s aged care system was complex, fragmented and difficult to navigate, particularly for people experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage. The Royal Commission found that many older people were unable to access the care they were entitled to because they lacked the knowledge, confidence, capability or informal supports needed to navigate the aged care system.
As a result, many were unable to access timely care leading to poorer health and wellbeing and less chance to live at home, well and independently. The Care Finder program addresses this gap by providing specialist intensive support to help vulnerable older people understand and engage with My Aged Care, access aged care services, and connect with broader health, disability and community supports. The program improves fair access to care and ensures that older people with the greatest barriers to accessing support are not left behind by the aged care system.
Our approach
The Care Finders program is a network of specialist staff who provide one-to-one-person centred support and are experienced with working with vulnerable older people.
The program delivery combines assertive outreach, an intake and triage service, intensive one to one assistance delivered face to face in community and ongoing support for people to access and maintain connection to aged care and community supports.
Care Finders work directly with individuals to complete My Aged Care processes, facilitate service linkages, and provide continued follow up to support stability, safety and long term engagement with care. Care finders offer culturally safe, trauma informed support to vulnerable communities such as First Nations people, LGBTQIA+, those experiencing homelessness and CALD.
Consultation
Each provider is required to design their service based on their experience supporting vulnerable older adults and the feedback, engagement and case studies with program participants.
Key activities
The program is delivered by two organisations funded through the North Coast Primary Health Network (PHN), ensuring support is local, culturally appropriate and tailored to the needs of older people in coastal, rural and regional communities.
Both organisations have an on-the-ground workforce of care finders who:
• Outreach into community through local networks: working with community organisations, health services, neighbourhood centres and cultural community groups to identify and connect people who need help.
• Provide an intake, triage and support line
• Guide people through My Aged Care: including making applications, liaising with Services Australia and My Aged Care, in person support for assessments, assisting with paperwork.
• Connect people to local services: such as home care providers, social support, transport, housing assistance and culturally safe community programs.
• Check in regularly: ensuring older people stay connected to services
• Support service changes: helping with re assessments and transitions to new providers when needed.
Objectives
The objectives are to establish and operate a Care finder service that:
- Provide local, specialist and intensive assistance to help people in the Care finder target population to understand and access aged care and connect with other relevant supports in the community.
- Builds the knowledge and skills of the workforce to achieve maximum impact for the target cohort.
- Proactively contributes to the integration between the health, aged care and other systems at the local level within the context of the Care finder program.
The goal of the Care Finder program is to improve equitable access to aged care for those older people who face significant barriers to navigating the system. As a result of care finder support, they will be able to:
- Better understand and engage with My Aged Care.
- Have better access to and stay connected with appropriate aged care and community services,
- Collectively these outcomes mean improved health, wellbeing, independence and quality of life for vulnerable older Australians.
Collectively these outcomes mean improved health, wellbeing, independence and quality of life for vulnerable older Australians.
Providers
Commissioned providers of Care Finders on the North Coast:
Footprints Community
Contact: 1800 366 877 or email
Region covered: Kyogle, Tweed, Byron and Ballina regions
Each
Contact: 1300 003 224 or email
Region covered: Coffs Harbour, Nambucca and Bellingen regions; Clarence Valley, Richmond Valley and Lismore, Port Macquarie Hastings and Kempsey