University Aged Care Case Study: Health and Sociopolitical Issues

This case study analyzes health and sociopolitical issues in aged care, addressing four key questions. The first question discusses services designed to promote independence and social participation among older people, including both positive and negative factors. The second question explains a model of health service delivery, focusing on person-centered care. The third question critiques the chosen health service delivery model, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the fourth question examines the user-pay system implemented in Australia's aged care, exploring its implications for funding, government influence, and ethical considerations, including the impact on older people and the aged care sector.

Running head: HEALTH AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ISSUES IN AGED CARE
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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Referring to Question 1
Aged care offers multiple services that provide support to older people and fulfill the
needs of their daily activities. The services include short-term care, palliative care, residential
aged care and other related services (Dwyer et al., 2014). If considering residential aged care,
they provide an interactive caregiving approach. This interactive approach includes physical
along with mental wellbeing. It also promotes emotional support and social activities. With a
physical activity such as gardening or dancing would help older people stimulating their
minds and strengthen their bones (Joseph & Southcott, 2019). Socialising would allow older
people to get away from isolation and would improve their quality of life. In the same
manner, mental health would be stimulated by activities such as crosswords and would allow
older people to have an optimistic outlook on life. All these activities and stimulation would
allow older people to live independently, and practicing socialising would allow them to
participate in society with such a positive attitude.
Referring to Question 2
The population for older people is rising, and with the opportunities, it may also bring
challenges. Thus, aged care facilities need to practice an effective model of health service
delivery in their clinical care. Person-centered care is an effective model of healthcare
delivery as it involves the care of the patients beyond the guidelines (Burmeister et al., 2016).
This model would tailor the needs and demands of every patient and provide the service
accordingly. It would fulfil the needs considering the emotional, social along with any related
medical issues of the patients (Li & Porock, 2014). Thus, this model would allow the patient
to provide feedback and to make an effective decision on their health. Major principle of this
model is to treat every patient with dignity, respect along with compassion. It can be achieved
by coordinating the care and support with addition of an adequate treatment. As the model

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promote personalised care, it enable patients or care seeker to identify their strengths along
with abilities and allow them to develop for an effective health outcome.
Referring to Question 3
Person-centered care is an effective model that works under the principle of meeting
the needs and demands of the patients. The service of care would be delivered according to
the patients. This model would take the necessary information and inputs from the patients or
individuals and design the care process accordingly (American Geriatrics Society Expert
Panel on Person‐Centered Care et al., 2016). This also further promotes effective
communication, and it builds a strong relationship. Communication would help in
understanding the patient very well and also would be able to analyse both internal along
with the external factor that is affecting their wellbeing or health. This process would let
patients or care seekers trust their care providers and would cooperate in making an effective
shared decision about their health. Therefore, this process would improve the overall health
outcome of patients or older people.
A person-centered model promotes therapeutic communication among the care
providers and care seekers, and thus, it becomes the major advantage of the model (Fazio et
al., 2018). Patients feel acceptance as they can share their feelings and tailor their care
according to their opinion or choice. Patients trust the care providers and can provide
valuable inputs. Older people often feel isolated due to their lack of participation in any
activities or impairment of any sensory organ.
Although person-centered care is an effective approach that would enhance the
overall health outcome of patients, however, it also has a disadvantage. This person-centered
model would not be effective if the care seeker lacks in communication (Mead, Andres &
Regenstein, 2014). If the care seeker is in pain and lacks motivation, then this model would

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not bring any value to the care as the care seekers expect advice instead of deciding on their
own. This model promotes the shared decision, which may not be acceptable from every care
seekers (Stacey et al., 2017).
Referring to Question 4
The older population in Australia is continuously increasing, and therefore, the
Australian government is unable to meet the cost of providing care to older people.
Therefore, a new framework was adopted in the system. A user-pay system is an approach
where the consumer would pay for the services or products that they are availing (Somerville
& Greene, 2016). This system can be implemented in any industry, starting from the retail
industry to the healthcare industry. The Australian government has already invested in the
healthcare sector; however, due to an increase in an older population, they are unable to meet
the expectation of aged care. The three major government influencers on the Australian aged
care are states and territory, commonwealth, along with the local government. Hence, the
commonwealth government is the major player in funding the aged care system irrespective
of residential aged care or care seeker seeking care in their home (Fisher, 2018). Multiple
packages such as community aged care, flexible care packages were introduced in meeting
the cost of aged care. Thus, the user-pay system has given a new approach for a new aged
care system. The patients or care seekers need to pay for the services; however, if for any
given circumstances, if the client or care seekers are unable to pay, then commonwealth
predominant pension becomes the major and significant source for funding the aged care
services.
Residents need to pay for the services which they are going to avail of in the aged
care. This payment can be made in a regular interval of time or as a lump sum. The funding
or payment is an ongoing process where the residents need to pay according to the available

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services. Besides, the commonwealth government plays a significant role in adjusting rent
assistance that would make the aged care provider in receiving the payment either by the care
seeker or government. Thus, the user-pay system can also be defined as a source of funding
for the aged care to deliver efficient and effective services towards older people (Kulik et al.,
2014). As the government is facing issues in saving the vulnerable group of the Australian
older population, the aged care system must incorporate the out of the pocket expenditure.
Thus, resulting in a user-pay system. This user-pay system would enhance the growth of the
aged care sector. Another reason for implementing the user-pay system is as there is a low
flow of funding from the government, the equipment is not met according to the needs of
delivering the care or higher pressure among the workers (Chang & Chou, 2014).
From a political perspective or opinion, this change of funding would lead the
government to reduce the burden of providing sources to the aged care system (Stabile &
Thomson, 2014). However, it does not restrict the government bodies in providing funds and
supporting the individuals or care seekers. Thus, this user-pay system would help in the
allocation of resources efficiently as the client or individuals pay for the services they are
going to avail. The spending on the aged care service would also improve the gross domestic
product and would improve the efficiency in aged care settings. Earlier, there was a
compulsory for care seekers to make the payment of accommodation bond. However, these
changes have reduced the burden of paying the accommodation bonds.
From the ethical viewpoint, these changes planned for evacuating boundaries to more
extensive decisions for older people residing in the aged care settings would incorporate
financing changes, offering more help for individuals staying in their own home, getting care
in retirement towns and giving options in contrast to the accommodation bonds essential at
present for low-care nursing homes (Kaehr et al., 2015). The older people would get wider

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opportunities to avail of care and reduces for making a compulsory decision in staying in the
residential care away from their families.
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