National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission Fact Sheet

More choice for consumers
Making the system work better
Improving care through modern technology
What do you think?
More information

Australia faces huge growth in demand for aged care services. We should provide greater choice and responsiveness in how older people use aged care services.

More choice for consumers

There should be more aged care places to choose from - by lifting the current restrictions on the number of aged care places on offer.

Aged care providers should make standardised information publicly available on the internet to enable older people and their families to make more informed choices.

People should be given greater scope to choose for themselves between using their care subsidy for community or residential care. For many elderly people, residential care will remain the best and only viable option for meeting their care needs.

Making the system work better

The Australian Government should cap the number of people receiving subsidies, rather than the number of places.

There should be streamlined, consistent assessment for eligibility for care across all aged care programs.

All aged care staff should be trained to support consumers to complete advance care plans, if they wish to do so – so people can say what treatment options they prefer in what circumstances.

Improving care through modern technology

The safety, efficiency and effectiveness of care can be helped by better and more innovative use of technology and communication. This should include, for instance, helping people to access their own electronic health record, and on-line and telephonic advice should be available for older people and their carers.

What do you think?

The Government is undertaking a series of face-to-face consultations and is using this website to seek the views of Australians on these and other options.

What do you think? Tell us at a consultation visit or complete the Tell us what you think form to provide your views.

These views will be compiled and reported to Government prior to deciding what health reform should be undertaken.

Individual responses will not be posted to the views provided on this site.

More information

This is a summary of some of the major recommendations of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. Full recommendations can be found in A Healthier Future For All Australians – Final Report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission – June 2009