Notes on the data: Commonwealth Home Support Programme

Commonwealth Home Support Programme 2020/21

Policy context: The Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) is an entry-level home support program, funded by the Australian Government, that helps frail older people to live independently in their homes and communities. It also provides respite services to give carers a break.

The program aims to:

Help people live as independently as possible
Focus on working with them, rather than doing things for them
Give a small amount of help to a large number of people

Most people in the CHSP only need 1 or 2 services to help them stay independent [1].

CHSP services may be offered in the home or local community. Services include centre-based and other respite; social support and counselling; personal care; home modification and maintenance; transport; meals and other food services; information, advocacy and assessment; support for carers; allied health services; domestic assistance; and community nursing [1].

Further information on the CHSP, including key figures on the characteristics of people using CHSP, as well as information on the programs provided under the CHSP including financial and time expenditure, is available here.

Reference

DHAC (Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care). About the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP). Available from https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/commonwealth-home-support-programme-chsp/about-the-commonwealth-home-support-programme-chsp#what-is-the-chsp; last accessed 21 November 2022.

Notes:

Assistance type	Definition	Measure
Clients living alone	Clients whose status is recorded as living alone at the date of most recent assessment.	Percentage of total clients
Clients with carer	Clients whose status is recorded as having a carer at the date of most recent assessment. The carer may be living with the client or not.	Percentage of total clients
Indigenous clients (per total clients)	Clients whose status is recorded as Indigenous at the date of most recent assessment.	Percentage of total clients
Indigenous clients (per Indigenous population)	Clients whose status is recorded as Indigenous at the date of most recent assessment.	Percentage of Indigenous population
Non-English-speaking clients	Clients whose main language spoken at home at the date of most recent assessment is not English.	Percentage of total clients
Total clients	All clients that recorded at least one instance of assistance for the time period.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Allied health therapy clients	Includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, advice from a dietician or nutritionist, or speech therapy.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Domestic assistance clients	House cleaning, washing and ironing, help with shopping, transport to and from banks and appointments etc., and general household support.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Flexible respite clients	In-home day and overnight respite, host family day and overnight respite, mobile respite, other planned respite, and community access – individual respite.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Goods and equipment clients	Medical care aids, reading aids, self-care aids, support and mobility aids, other goods and equipment, car modification, and communication aids.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Home maintenance clients	Assistance with the maintenance and repair of the client's home, garden or yard to keep their home in a safe and habitable condition. This also includes minor modifications such as grab rails, hand rails, ramps, and shower rails to reduce the impact of disability on the activities of daily living.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Home modification clients	Assistance with the maintenance and repair of the client's home, garden or yard to keep their home in a safe and habitable condition. This also includes minor modifications such as grab rails, hand rails, ramps, and shower rails to reduce the impact of disability on the activities of daily living.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Meals clients	Provision of meals prepared and delivered to the client’s home or provided in a community centre.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Nursing clients	Health care provided to a client by a registered or enrolled nurse. This care can be provided from a community centre or in the client’s home.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Personal care clients	May include help with bathing, toilet use, eating, dressing and personal grooming.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Social support (group) clients	Assistance provided by a companion either within the home or while accessing community services, whose primary purpose is to meet the person’s need for social contact and/or accompaniment in order to participate in community life. This includes friendly visiting.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Social support (individual) clients	Assistance provided by a companion either within the home or while accessing community services, whose primary purpose is to meet the person’s need for social contact and/or accompaniment in order to participate in community life. This includes friendly visiting.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Specialised support services clients	Assistance to provide or coordinate individual or group transport services.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)
Transport clients	Assistance to provide or coordinate individual or group transport services.	Indirectly age-standardised rate and ratio (of the total population)

Additional notes on the data

The proportion of CHSP-funded agencies that submitted Home and Community Care (HACC) MDS data differed across jurisdictions. In 2020/21 this ranged from 75 per cent to 100 per cent. Actual client numbers will be higher than those reported here.

For some client types there are considerable differences in rates between the states and territories. In many cases, this is due to design legacies of jurisdictionally based HACC programmes. For example, many Victorian Transport clients would be recorded as Social support clients. For more information see: Commonwealth Home Support Programme Data Study.

All data is derived from Population Health Area (PHA) data that had values less than 5 suppressed. Therefore, the number of clients and corresponding rates for areas derived from PHAs may be slightly underestimated.

Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Quintiles within PHNs, and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Number of clients for the respective indicator

Denominator: Total clients, Total population or Total Indigenous population, as appropriate - refer to 'Indicator details' above

Detail of analysis: Indirectly age-standardised rate per 1,000 population; and/or indirectly age-standardised ratio; or Percentage - refer to 'Indicator details' above

Source: Compiled by PHIDU using data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020/21; and the average of the ABS Estimated Resident Population, 30 June 2020 and 30 June 2021 (for the indicator `Indigenous clients per Indigenous population’, the population used is the estimated resident populations (PHIDU) at 30 June 2020).