workforce
Care finder
New program restores face-to-face support .
By Elise Hartevelt
The federal government has rolled out a new program to help vulnerable people navigate Australia ’ s aged care system .
The Care Finder program , launched at the beginning of 2023 , was born after Commissioner Lynelle Briggs recognised that some older people could not access support services due to previous negative experiences or cognitive impairment .
Over the past three months , Care Finder organisations have been established in various primary health network regions across Australia .
Not-for-profit ‘ Connect ’ covers anyone living in Camden , Wollondilly , and Wingecarribee , NSW .
Aged Care Insite spoke with team leader Clare Thorn and coordinator Anne-Marie Kennedy about the challenges of locating particular groups of people and Care Finder ’ s teething problems .
26 agedcareinsite . com . au
ACI : What are your main tasks within the Care Finder program , Connect ? AK : The aged care system is complex , and some people find it more difficult than others to navigate and access the services they need .
The Royal Commission recognised there was a cohort of people falling through the cracks for various reasons .
So , this program is designed to fill the gap and prevent , where possible , this vulnerable group from being unable to get the care they need .
Our program mainly exists to put a face-to-face element back into aged care services .
You can ring My Aged Care or contact them online , but nothing else will come to you to help you get into the system .
The nature of our target group prevents them from calling My Aged Care for help .
You can imagine that if someone doesn ’ t have the capacity to seek help or go through the on boarding process , how else would they be able to receive support ?
The beauty of the program is that it ’ s quite pure .
CT : It ’ s actually returning to many of the old case management ways we had before My Aged Care was introduced .
We ’ re really able to take that time to connect with the person , gain their trust , and take it slowly – which is quite a feature for these times .
A big part of this program is that once you connect with the person and they become your client , is the ongoing follow-ups .
These check-ins would initially be every two months .
We establish that they are still receiving support and meeting their needs .
If their quality of life has improved and it ’ s consistent over time , we might change the frequency to every six months or yearly .
We just keep following them so they ’ re taken care of .
And that ’ s very important because circumstances can change , and they might lose connection again .
What are some reasons this particular group finds it difficult or are reluctant to access help services ? AK : There are many different reasons because it greatly depends on each individual .
It could be that someone had some previous interaction with my aged care that wasn ’ t positive .