Consultation has started: Review of Veterans’ Home Care and Community Nursing Programs

The Nous Group and DVA are consulting with the veteran community and service providers on current arrangements for the Veterans’ Home Care and Community Nursing programs and how they could be improved.

Service providers can access further details of how they can contribute to the review through the Veterans’ Home Care and Community Nursing Bulletins.

DVA is contacting a random sample of clients accessing these programs to

seek their involvement in the consultation process through a series of workshops to be held later in November 2021. Additionally, DVA is consulting through its established consultative arrangements.

Future stages of consultation, planned for the first half of 2022, will consider opportunities for broader engagement with veterans, their families, carers and other interested stakeholders.

The information on this website will be updated as the review progresses.

Background

In the 2021-22 Budget DVA received funding to undertake a comprehensive review of veterans’ care and support programs.

The review of the Veterans’ Home Care (VHC) and Community Nursing Programs (the Review), as DVA’s main care and support programs, has now commenced.

DVA has engaged the Nous Group, an independent consulting company, to review these programs and their related arrangements.  

The Review will identify options for possible reforms to ensure that these programs remain client-focused, and the key components are modernised. These options will be considered in the context of current aged care reforms, and ensuring the veteran community continues to have access to high quality care and support services into the future.

The VHC and Community Nursing Programs have been in place for a long time. The Review will determine how they could be improved to remain fit-for-purpose and deliver on their objectives. The Nous Group will review these programs, and provide DVA with possible future options.

The Review will focus on:

• how we can ensure that care providers choose to deliver services to the veteran community. This will include considering whether the set fees are competitive in the current market and identifying opportunities to minimise service provider administration costs.
• whether the programs deliver services aligned with need and contemporary service delivery.
• opportunities to create efficiencies for providers through harmonising the VHC and Community Nursing Programs.

The Review:

• aligns with the Government’s broader agenda to reform aged care, including in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
• advances the Government’s broader commitment to increase support for older Australians to remain living at home.
• supports DVA’s priority to improve the health and wellbeing of veterans.