Summary
This study of disability and ageing in Australia was commissioned by the National Disability Administrators. The study is designed to provide information to assist disability support service providers and senior policy makers faced with questions about the likely impacts of population ageing on disability prevalence, support services and availability of informal assistance.
This summary draws together the main findings of the study to address the research questions of the project brief.
Report outline
Chapters 1 to 10 focus mainly on literature review. Chapters 1 to 5 present an overview of population ageing and its impact on disability prevalence, expenditure and services for people ageing with a disability. The combined effects of population ageing and de-institutionalisation on informal care are reviewed. Chapters 6 to 10 consider the ageing trends of people with a disability, particularly those with an early onset disability, and outline their special needs for support. Emerging issues related to service needs, and new initiatives in service planning and models, are also discussed.
Chapters 11 to 17 assess information from disability surveys, other population surveys of national significance, and service administrative data. The analysis in these chapters concentrates particularly on data from the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics disability survey (in 1998).
Chapter 18 summarises the main findings of previous chapters and examines the impact of ageing on support service provision, government expenditure and informal assistance for people with a disability. Chapter 19 draws out the most salient information for disability administrators to consider when planning the evolution of services.
Preliminary material: List of tables; List of figures; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations
1. Introduction
- Project brief
- Background and outline of the report
2. Population ageing in Australia
- Some demographic features of Australia's population
- Projected growth in population
- Trends in population ageing
3. Population ageing, morbidity and disability
- Mortality, morbidity and disability
- Population ageing and prevalence of people with a disability
4. Implications of population ageing
- Impact on government health and welfare expenditures
- Impact on government expenditures in aged care and disability services
- Impact on demand for disability support services
- Impact on residential aged care services
- Issues concerning the age dependency ratio
5. Trends in informal care
- Impact of population growth and population ageing on informal care
- Other factors affecting changes in informal care
- Trends in community living among people with a disability
- Impact of caring role on informal carers
- Support needs for carers
6. Ageing clients of disability and aged care services and their service usage pattern
- Disability services
- Aged care services
7. Individual ageing of people with an early onset of disability
- Early start of individual ageing
- Decline in mortality and increase in life expectancy
- Health conditions and major illnesses and diseases related to ageing: relationship to disability
- Trends in incidence and prevalence of congenital malformations
8. Needs of ageing people with a disability
- Needs common to the general ageing population
- Special situations of older people with an early onset disability
- Special needs of older people with an early onset disability
- Factors contributing to restricted access to services
9. Existing services models: some issues
- General issues concerning the need for appropriate services
- Service gaps and needs for new services
- Need for service responses in some key service areas
- Differences and similarities of the current disability and aged care service systems
10. Emerging planning and service models
- New South Wales
- Victoria
- Western Australia
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Australian Capital Territory
11. Overview of relevant data sources
- ABS population surveys of relevance to disability
- Administrative data relating to services provided for people with a disability
- Data limitations and key data sources for analysis
12. Population ageing and prevalence of disability
- Data sources for comparisons of the four surveys
- Comparison of age-standardised prevalence estimates
- Changes in reported number of people with disability
- Effects of population change on disability prevalence
- Summary
13. Ageing of people with a disability
- Increase in the proportion of people aged 65 years and over among people with a disability
- Ageing of aged people with a disability
- Recent increase in the proportions of people with a disability aged under 65 years
- Discussion
14. People ageing with an early onset disability
- Age at onset of disability
- Distribution of age at onset by current age
- Age at onset of disability by main condition
- Summary
15. Ageing, need for assistance and providers of assistance
- ABS survey data on need for assistance
- Need for assistance and main provider of assistance
- Changes in need for assistance and main provider of assistance between 1993 and 1998
- Need for assistance and main source of assistance for people ageing with a disability
- Summary of findings
16. Ageing, informal care and carers
- Disability survey data on carers
- Ageing and profile of informal carers
- Need for and receipt of assistance
- Effects of the caring role on carers
- Trends in de-institutionalisation
- Summary
17. Ageing and trends in service use
- Methods and underlying assumptions
- Growth estimates of severe or profound core activity restriction
- Trends in service use
- Summary and discussion
18. Implications for support services
- Population ageing in Australia
- Impact of population ageing on disability prevalence
- Impact of population ageing on government health and welfare expenditure
- Trends in informal care
- Ageing, need for assistance and providers of assistance
- Service use pattern
- Discussion of support service implications
19. Conclusion
- Implications of overall demographic change in the Australian population
- Understanding the 'grey' areas in services for ageing people with a disability
- Implications for the nature of services
- Planning the evolution of support services
End matter: References; Appendix tables