Performance audit of residential aged care for Indigenous Australians

This report highlights the objectives, findings and recommendations of the assessment by the Office of Evaluation and Audit (Indigenous programs) of residential aged care services provided to older Indigenous Australians under the Australian government’s flexible and mainstream programs. The audit found that the flexible program had the ability to adapt to the varied needs of elderly Indigenous people, but that documentation on the operations of the program, provision of guidelines and ongoing assessment since its inception were limited. The mainstream program was considered intrusive by some people during the assessment stage for aged care eligibility, even though the accreditation standards for aged care facilities do have culturally sensitive provisions. The mainstream program acknowledged the age difference for older Indigenous and non-Indigenous people (over 50 for Indigenous, compared to over 70 for non-Indigenous) but this was not planned for in funding arrangements for aged care placements for Indigenous people aged 50-69 years of age. The recommendations from the audit centred around the findings of the evaluation