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The Hon. HENRY TSANG: My question without notice is addressed to the Minister for Health. Can the Minister acquaint the House with the Sub-acute Fast Track Elderly Care program?
The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: I thank the honourable member for this very important question. The challenge of an ageing population is at the planning forefront for the future provision and delivery of health services in New South Wales. The number of people 75 years and over in New South Wales is expected to increase from 394,076 in 2001, to 544,327 in 2015. In 2004-05, people between the ages of 65 and 75 years occupied 16 per cent of all acute bed days, and those over 75 years occupied 30 per cent. Hospitals are also seeing an 8 per cent annual increase in emergency department attendances by patients over 80 years of age. People over 75 years of age suffer from the heaviest burden of disease and disability, and have the highest rate of hospital admissions once they present to the emergency department.
For the period 2003-04, the approximate public hospital cost for persons aged 75 years and older was $771 million. The demand for health services will only increase with rising numbers of older people with chronic and complex needs. The salient problem is access of appropriate aged care facilities for community support systems at an early stage that can avert the ultimate need for hospital admission. As a result, the Government has developed an innovative and targeted health services trial for older people.
The Sub-acute Fast Track Elderly Care program—or SAFTE Care, as it is known—is based on research undertaken by geriatrician Dr Tuly Rosenfeld from the Prince of Wales Hospital. Dr Rosenfeld identified a number of milestones experienced by older people where, if a specific range of service supports could be provided, there would have been a reduced need for hospital admission for those who were over 75 years of age. The need to attend hospital would have been averted by intervening earlier—when the health of those older people was just beginning to deteriorate—using better co-ordination of services in the community.
SAFTE is a $4 million year-long pilot program aimed at minimising the need for older people to be admitted to hospital, and improving older peoples' quality of life. It is taking place at St George, John Hunter, Hornsby and Queanbeyan hospitals, where partnerships will be developed between the community and hospital sectors. The SAFTE program teams will be co-ordinated by the geriatric services and community care case managers from the four pilot hospitals. The teams will visit older patients at home when early warning signs of deterioration occur, providing rapid assessment, diagnostic tests and diagnosis, and facilitating timely access to support services. Patients will be flagged to these teams by general practitioners, aged care teams or other community service providers. The SAFTE program provides the capacity for area health service staff to jointly manage care with the general practitioner and non-health service providers.
The four sites will test the program in a tertiary setting with large numbers of older people presenting to emergency departments, the metropolitan district hospital in a population with high numbers of elderly people, and a rural site where older people travel long distances for care. This new program means better care for older people and less demand for acute services. The program better integrates hospital services, community services and general practice so that patients receive the right help at the right time. The program will be fully evaluated over the 12-month period to develop effective ways for it to become available to all older people. It is a shame the Commonwealth could not match our commitment to delivering the SAFTE program. I specifically wrote to Minister Abbott asking for Federal Government assistance in the rolling out of this program to additional sites if necessary. Mr Abbott has declined to provide such funding. Indeed, he has not even responded to my letter.