Residential respite care use is associated with fewer overall days in residential care for older people in Australia

Aims: (1) To examine the use of residential respite care in Australia. (2) To evaluate associations between use of respite and days spent in residential care (respite days plus long-term care days).

Methods: A retrospective national study of individuals accessing aged care services in Australia was conducted. This study included people approved for residential respite between January 2005 and June 2012 and included a two-year follow-up period (n = 480,862). Poisson regression models were used to examine associations between use of respite and number of days spent in residential care.

Results: 36.9% of participants used their respite approval within 12 months (40.7% used respite once, 32.0% used respite once and went directly to long-term care and 27.3% used respite ≥ 2 times). Using respite once and not going directly to long-term care was associated with less days in residential care (Incidence Rate Ratio, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.71, 0.71–0.71, p < 0.001) compared to not using respite and using respite ≥ 2 times was also associated with less days in residential care (0.88, 0.88–0.88, p < 0.001). Using respite care once and going directly to long-term care was associated with more days in residential care (1.12, 1.12–1.12, p < 0.001). Over time, the proportion of people going directly to long-term care from respite increased from 26.1% to 36.3%.

Conclusions: Using residential respite care reduces the number of days people spend in residential care when people return home after using respite care. This suggests that using residential respite as intended achieves the goal to help people stay living at home longer.