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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 8 Hansard (9 August) . . Page.. 2987 ..

People needing high care (nursing home care) may be asked to pay an accommodation charge, depending on their assets. This charge is agreed between the resident and the care service, is capped at $12.33 per day, set on a sliding scale depending on the resident's assets, and is not charged if the resident has assets of less than $24,500. The resident's home is not considered an asset if their partner or a dependant child is living in it.

Daily care charges also apply. All residents pay a basic fee, and depending on their income, may also be asked to pay an additional income tested fee. Means tested pensioners currently pay $23.00 a day and non-pensioners $28.73 a day. If the resident is asked to pay an additional income tested fee it will be no higher than $69.00 a day or the cost of the resident's care, whichever is lower. To pay the maximum fee the resident would need to have an annual income of over $61,500.

The Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care requires that once a patient has been resident in a public hospital for 35 days within the one inpatient episode, a clinical evaluation must be made as to their ongoing care type. Usually this is undertaken by the patient's treating clinician who makes a clinical decision about whether or not the patient is still receiving "acute care" within the defined sense of the term. If it is decided that the patient is no longer receiving "acute care" the patient is classified as a Nursing Home Type Patient (NHTP). If the patient is classified as NHTP the hospital then charges a daily nursing home fee of $29.65. This certification is reviewed every 30 days during the hospital stay.

Contrary to what may be expected from the terminology, designation of NHTP status of itself does not indicate that the patient meets the criteria for nursing home admission. This is determined by a review by the Aged Care Assessment Team within ACT Community Care. Processes are then put in place to seek a nursing home placement.

(4) Policies and procedures for transferring residents between aged care facilities are decided by the individual facility. The facility has a duty of care to it's residents to ensure their safety, and will make a decision at the time of transfer as to how the transfer will occur and whether that transfer will include an escort from the facility. In the case of a routine, planned transfer, most facilities will arrange either for family, a facility vehicle, or a volunteer driver, to escort a resident to another facility (hospital, appointments, or another aged care facility). In the case of an emergency transfer, the facility will have a policy in place which will include calling an ambulance to the emergency, and if the transfer is due to the resident's behavioural status, would normally arrange for a member of staff to accompany the resident on the transfer.

The Canberra Hospital and Calvary Hospital both use the ambulance system if transferring patients between hospitals. If transferring to a residential aged care facility, the hospitals arrange for appropriate patient transport as part of the discharge planning process. This transport may be ambulance, but would more commonly be through members of the patient's family. Patients are transferred when medically stable and are fit for discharge from the acute hospital setting.

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