RESIDENTIAL aged-care places are increasingly being filled by those aged 85 and over as older people try to stay in their own homes as long as possible.
New figures released by the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare show the ageing of the population has pushed up demand for nursing home care and in-home care, with national aged-care spending up almost 10 per cent in the past year to $11 billion.
Higher demand in the past decade caused a 23 per cent rise in people living permanently in residential aged care, says the AIHW report, Residential Care in Australia 2009-10.
The changing age pattern of nursing home residents shows how older people prefer to see out their days. "From 1999 to 2010, the proportion of permanent residents aged 85 years or over increased by 41 per cent -- almost 27,000 additional older residents, from 49 per cent to 56 per cent of all residents," the report says.
"In other words, 89 per cent of the increase in permanent residents was accounted for by those aged 85 years or over."
The report finds the age of admission to residential care is rising.
"From 1999 to 2010, the proportion of permanent residents aged 80 years and over at the time of admission increased nearly 10 percentage points from 64 per cent to 74 per cent," it says.
The number of residential aged-care places continues to rise to meet demand. Nearly 4500 extra places were created in 2001, the report says, noting that women outnumber men by more than two to one in residential care. And seven out of 10 permanent residents had high-care needs and complex health issues such as dementia.
Evidence of the preference for "ageing in place" is shown by the increased demand for community care or in-home services.
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