Overview
The Home and Community Care (HACC) Program is a national program funded by the Australian and State/Territory Governments.The HACC Program aims to enhance the quality of life for frail older people, younger people with disabilities and their carers. The Program funds a range of basic services designed to enhance the independence and quality of life for people living in the community, thus preventing their inappropriate or premature admission to long-term residential care.
The Key features of the new HACC agreement:
- Focus on maintaining the independence of frail older people and people with a disability in the community;
- Commitment to developing systems to support HACC services to work together effectively to improve care; and
- Maintaining accountability while reducing administrative burden.
HACC Triennial Plan 2008-2011
All states and territories have developed triennial plans which guide the ongoing development of the HACC Program in the jurisdiction, incorporating broader Commonwealth and Northern Territory government directions. The priority directions in the Northern Territory HACC plan are jointly agreed to by the Commonwealth and State Ministers.
The joint priorities for the 2008-2011 HACC Triennial Plan are;
- Funding investment across service regions of the Northern Territory, in relation to need, allowing service development particularly in the remote areas.
- Streamlining access to services which will initially occur via the Access Points Demonstration Project, with a longer term plan to role this out across the Northern Territory.
HACC growth funding has traditionally been submission based. The Northern Territory Government (through the DHCS) is moving towards a system where growth funding and any new funding will be provided based on identified areas of need. This method will enable a more planned approach to the HACC services that frail older people and people with a disability and carers receive. It is anticipated that using this system will lead to increased client satisfaction and enable DHCS to support external service provider to meet the actual needs of frail older people and people with a disability.
Northern Territory Access Points
The Access Points Demonstration Project (Access Point) is a joint government initiative between the Northern Territory Department of Health and Families and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to contribute to:
- Streamline access to services for people of all ages with a functional disability and/or community care need and their carers, living in remote locations;
- Increase equity of access to services through the development of a common intake process for all people with a functional disability and/or community care need living in remote locations;
- Improve the quality of the service delivery to clients; and
- Enhance the effectiveness of care delivery coordination.
Processes that will be used to meet these objectives include:
- Introducing a common initial assessment tool for community services and disability services that identifies appropriate services to meet client needs;
- Education of Access Point staff;
- Training and professional development for Aged and Disability Program (A&DP) staff;
- Modification of existing DHF IT systems (e.g. Community Care Information System); and
- Access Points is delivered through the Remote Aged and Disability Team of Central Australia and Top End Remote.
Attached are the information sheets for both remote teams.
Download:Access Point - Home and Community Care Services (Adobe PDF document - 36KB)
Download: Access Points - Improving Access to Community Care Services for Remote People Darwin (Adobe PDF document - 84KB)
Download: Access Points - Improving Access to Community Care Services for Remote People East Arnhem (Adobe PDF document - 84KB)
Download: Access Points - Improving Access to Community Care Services for Remote People Katherine (Adobe PDF document - 84KB)
