Concentric Health Care Services in partnership with the University of Canberra, Estia Health, and Macquarie University has been awarded an ARIIA grant for their project ‘Implementing an allied health reablement program in the community and in residential aged care’.
There is clear evidence from the recent Royal Commission in Aged Care Quality and Safety that (a) older people living in residential aged care and in the community need allied health services to optimise their health and well-being, (b) older people living in residential aged care and in the community are not getting the services they need, and (c) the ways in which allied health services are accessed in the aged care system is not working.
The intervention draws on a strong evidence base that reablement principles can improve outcomes for older people in living at home and in residential aged care. The innovation and impact of this proposal lies in translating the available evidence into practice from multiple areas of allied health and demonstrating the feasibility of delivering those services in the current aged care system.
This project will provide a model of how a team of allied health professionals can work in residential aged care and community care. The project will show existing allied health professionals and allied health students that providing interventions to older adults in residential aged care and in the community can be an exciting and rewarding process, giving the project an important workforce focus.