Innovations in Aged Care: What are the first quality reports from the Transition Care Program in Australia telling us?

Abstract

Transition Care is a new program in Australia, jointly funded by the Commonwealth and State/Territory Governments. Implementation is undertaken by state health departments, in some cases through aged care organisations, against a set of key requirements. This paper examines reports from providers to reveal enablers and barriers to compliance with the requirements and to highlight emerging patterns of practice. The first 23 self‐reports were content analysed. Person‐centred and goal‐orientated care was evidenced. General practitioner, pharmacist and geriatrician involvement in care planning and review was low. While service agreements between Transition Care services, referring hospitals and community providers improved the efficiency of information transfer and discharge arrangements, these were rare, hindering entry and discharge from the program. Transition Care offers older people a flexible model of care. While the flexibility of the model is a strength, service providers are struggling to achieve integration with existing services.