DOMICILIARY CARE

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (16:08): My question is to the Minister for Disabilities. Will he inform the council on the 40^th anniversary celebrations for Domiciliary Care services in South Australia?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (16:08): I would like to thank the honourable member for his most important question. December 2011 marked 40 years of Domiciliary Care services in South Australia. Domiciliary Care provides a range of home-based care to people with reduced ability to care for themselves due to age, injury or illness. DomCare helps to promote independence and injury and illness prevention for more than 6,000 clients a year. Most clients are aged over 65 years of age, with 70 per cent of clients aged over 75 years of age.

Some of the services offered by Domiciliary Care include specialist rehabilitation, equipment, allied health therapies, palliative care and dementia day services. Domiciliary Care helps to prevent unnecessary admission into hospitals or residential care, and this obviously provides significant savings to the South Australian health system. However, more importantly, Domiciliary Care helps people to remain in their own home for longer, closer to family, friends and their local networks. This optimises independence and mobility for as long as possible.

Domiciliary Care began 40 years ago during the Dunstan era of major social innovation. The original concept came from a physiotherapist, a geriatrician and a social worker who identified a need for more care and support to be available for patients returning home from hospital. The first site at Woodville, known as Western Domiciliary Care, started as a pilot in 1971. The 1971 pilot program offered home services for older people returning home after hospital. Staff supported relatives to care for patients, who would otherwise need a hospital or nursing home bed. This post hospital care still remains a core service of Domiciliary Care some four decades on.

After this successful pilot program, the three other metropolitan sites were planned. The service became known as Metro Domiciliary Care, with four separate regions established (the eastern, western, southern and northern areas). These services were amalgamated in July 2002 and are now operating across Adelaide, with eight client service teams covering Marion, Port Adelaide, Adelaide, Burnside, Salisbury, Playford, Onkaparinga and Charles Sturt local areas. Domiciliary Care now employs around 550 employees across metro Adelaide, and I thank them all for their tireless work in supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community.