Increasing Self-management in Home Care Project

Increasing Self-management in Home Care Project

COTA Australia’s ‘Self-management in Home Care’ project was a ground-breaking initiative funded by the Australian Government from 2017 to its conclusion in September 2019. The COTA Australia website hosts numerous resources  freely available to both providers and consumers to help build a greater understanding and practical knowledge about self-management in home care.

COTA Australia’s ‘Self-management in Home Care’ project concluded in September 2019.

The project addressed three primary challenges in the sector and sought to further equip the industry to manage these challenges:

  1. the rising demand from consumers to extend the breadth of their choice and control,
  2. the changing demographics of aged care consumers, and
  3. the changing policy environment around home care.

COTA Australia worked together with RMIT University and partnered with seven Home Care Providers across Australia to design and test a unique “self-management” model for the Australian context. Approximately 100 home care consumers from these partner providers participated in the project as co-designers and as trial participants. RMIT University have provided an independent evaluation of the self-management model as part of the project.

The project promotes a consistent understanding of self-management in consideration of the business and policy environment.

Home care providers have the benefit of accessing our project findings, reports and evaluation. This means they can access best practice knowledge, helpful resources and processes for implementing self-management as a service offering within their organisation. Consumers and their representatives can be equally informed about their potential to self-manage their home care and be equipped with resources to assist them on their journey.

Project Approach and Process Overview

What did we do:

  • consulted with consumers, carers and providers nationally to build a best-practice picture of the various models of self-management currently on offer to home care package consumers
  • developed a catalogue of competencies and characteristics for consumers/carers to successfully self-manage their package
  • trialled the self-management model across our seven different project partners
  • developed a consumer toolkit to help prepare for self-management
  • developed a provider toolkit to prepare an organisation to implement their self-management model, including processes around governance and risk management
  • developed a process for implementing a home care debit card and other financial self-management models
  • evaluated and reported on outcomes for the benefit of the industry at large.

The Provider & Consumer Guides and Toolkits are the major resources developed through the project, they are available to download from the ‘Self-management Resources and Tools’ page.

VIEW our page: Self-management Resources and Tools