In South Australia, the state government provides 38% of Home and Community Care (HACC) program funding with the remainder provided by the Australian government. The program is administered by Disability, Ageing and Carers through the Department for Families and Communities.
The HACC program aims to:
- provide a comprehensive, coordinated and integrated range of basic maintenance and support services for frail older people, people with a disability and their carers
- support these people to be more independent at home and in the community, thereby enhancing their quality of life and preventing their premature or inappropriate admission to long term residential care
- provide flexible, timely services that respond to the needs of these people.
HACC services may include personal care, domestic assistance, community nursing, allied health services, delivered meals, home maintenance and modification services, respite care, social support and transport.
HACC users in South Australia
HACC clients (2009/2010)
There were 95,619 clients who received a HACC service in SA during the 2009/2010 financial year.
Age and sex
- 73,971 clients were aged 65 years (between 65 and 109 years of age) and over.
- Two thirds (65.5%) of HACC clients in SA over the age of 65 years (between 65 and 109 years of age) were female.
- Male HACC clients aged 65 years (between 65 and 109 years of age) and over comprised 34.5% of the total number of clients.
Ethnicity and indigenous status
- 2.2% of HACC clients were from an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) background
- 17.8% of clients were born overseas in non English speaking countries.
- HACC clients born overseas in non English speaking countries
- in 2009/2010 came from 135 different countries.
- Amongst HACC clients born overseas in non English speaking countries, the three countries of birth that predominated were Italy (25.9%), Greece (11.8%), and Germany (9.7%).
Place of residence
66.3% of clients live in metropolitan Adelaide and 33.7% of clients live in rural areas.
Living arrangements
People living alone represented 36.0% of the HACC clients in 2009/10.
Family carers
- In 2009/10 carers accounted for approximately 8.9% of the total HACC client population in South Australia.
- 30.8% of carers were a spouse and/or partner to the person they were caring for.
- 25.5% of carers were parents looking after a child.
Services most frequently used by HACC clients
In hours, the most frequently used services by HACC clients were:
- Assessment
- Client care coordination
- Domestic assistance
- Social support
- Home maintenance.
Service mix
- 33.0% of clients received one HACC service
- 20.8% of clients received two HACC services
- 17.5% of clients received three HACC services
- 10.1% of clients received four HACC services.
Data Source: HACC Minimum Data Set Collection 2009-10 Extract 2 revised October 2010 (July 2009 – June 2010), South Australia.