Page 1853 - Week 09 - Thursday, 19 October 1989
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the Commonwealth - but the ACT health system is also used by residents of the surrounding region of New South Wales.
Indeed, for some services, the ACT office is the only facility between Sydney and the Victorian border. The ACT health system is used not only by people living in outer New South Wales but it is also a regional referral system. The Commonwealth Government provides capital and recurrent expenditure for hostels and nursing homes for the aged. The provision of these services is determined on a needs basis. But, as I will show a little later, these change very quickly.
The home and community care program, as has already been mentioned, is a Commonwealth-State cost shared program introduced by the Commonwealth Government, providing financial assistance to help community organisations and local State governments to provide services to maintain frail aged and younger disabled persons in the community who are at risk of premature admission to inappropriate long-term residential care and to assist their carers. It provides basic maintenance and support services to these groups in order to enable them to remain living in the community.
This facility and provision of such facilities, as has already been mentioned, must be kept at least at the same level, and really there needs to be improvement in that area. It is absolutely essential that people do stay in their own homes for as long as possible.
Both these areas to which I have just referred have been dealt with in great detail in the report. The community nursing area is another area that the committee has looked at and it has been mentioned. I think it is an area that the committee believes does need some attention. That is not to say that those providing the service do not do an excellent job; they do. But at present it is a 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, perhaps four days a week, service. Community nursing is usually required, as we all know, outside these hours and not only for the aged. However, it was specifically the area of the aged that we looked at it.
Respite care is also addressed in detail. The committee was able to visit the Burrangiri Crisis Care Centre in Rivett, and some of us were also able to be present at the official opening of the centre. It is only a very new centre. It is operated very efficiently by the Salvation Army. Some small changes are recommended. One thing that is absolutely astounding is that the centre has so much low fencing and such an enormous amount of unused land around it because of our current fencing laws. Perhaps our planners need familiarisation in dementia care, then I am sure that the height and amount of fencing would immediately be rectified.
While the committee recognises the excellent job that the Council on the Ageing does in its respite care program and
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