Ageing well at home: measuring the impact of community care for older people

In the face of the economic and demographic pressures associated with an ageing population, how can we know whether the support we call community care meets the needs of those who depend on it? How can we know what is effective and how can care be best provided? In the increasingly competitive environment of aged care in Australasia, how can consumers, providers and funders be sure that the care support and services delivered is both efficient and makes a positive difference? This report provides details of the research undertaken in 2015-16 to develop and test the Australian Community Care Outcome Measurement tool (ACCOM), a set of measures of community care suitable for use in the Australian context. It is set out in three parts. Part I covers the background and methodology of the study; Part 2 the trial results. Part III concludes with an overview of the important lessons from the trial and a discussion of options for the future.