Care finder program update

The care finder program continues to support many older people who require intensive help to access and connect with aged care services and other community supports.

Who connected the older person for care finder support:

• 47% referred by a GP or other health professional,
• 20% through a friend, family member, or neighbour,
• 13% other,
• 10% referred by someone at a community support organisation,
• 6% referred by My Aged Care,
• 2% were already a client of the organisation, and
• 2% through promotion or advertisement.

“It is pleasing to see nearly half of the connections to the service for older people are being made by their GP or other health professionals in country South Australia, and a further 20% by someone in their own social network,” said Helen Morley, Country SA PHN Care Finder Lead.

“Thank you to everyone who has connected someone to the care finder service.”

Care finder organisations work hard to establish local awareness of what they do, and while health professionals are a part of this, so are many others, for example, Local Governments, Aged Care Providers, community supports such as Foodbanks, Red Cross, and Homelessness/ Housing agencies, plus many more.

What older people are saying about care finder:

• 93% say they would recommend the service to others,
• 86% say the service improved their understand of aged care and how to access services,
• 88% say accessing care finder was easy, and
• 75% say after contact with the care finder they feel more open to engage with the aged care system.

A big thank you must go to the three service providers commissioned by Country SA PHN to deliver care finder across country SA, Country & Outback Health, Centacare Catholic Country SA and Agedcare Alternatives.

More information about the care finder program can be found here.