Research shows the STRC Programme is keeping older people at home

With the existing Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme to transform and be extended under the new Support at Home program, new research has revealed that it helped 99% of participants to keep living at home.

The STRC Programme aims to reverse or slow functional decline in older Australians so they can delay or avoid long-term care, all while helping them stay at home.

It has a broad range of focal points, including to help people complete daily tasks, improve their health and well-being, and to improve physical function and mobility.

Under Support at Home, the STRC Programme will evolve and become the Restorative Care Pathway, which focuses on allied health to build participants’ strengths and capabilities.

Support will be available for up to 12 weeks, up from eight weeks currently available, while there is the potential for a further four-week extension.

This will be accessible alongside other short terms supports such as the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) Scheme and End-of-Life Pathway.

The value of restorative care was explored by HammondCare researchers in their retrospective cohort study published in the BMC Health Services Research journal.

It followed 484 STRC clients, with a mean age of 81 years, over a two-year period between March 2021 and February 2023 to determine its effectiveness as a restorative care program.

“The findings suggest that STRC is an effective program for older adults in achieving function gain and meeting individualised goals,” the study concluded.

The majority of clients (60%) were considered frail, with roughly one-third considered pre-frail.

Using a variety of measurement tools, significant improvements in physical health and mental health were recorded because of the STRC Programme’s intervention. Participants who did not have a carer saw the most improvement.

Laurie Sucic, 91, had lost 13 kilograms since Christmas, was frequently out of breath and struggled with her mobility. She is also on the waiting list for a Home Care Package and is not expected to be offered one until mid-2026.

Additionally, she is a carer for her husband Nandy, who lives with Parkinson’s disease. She said the STRC Programme has positively contributed to her ability to continue caring for her husband in their own home.

Mrs Sucic is nearing the end of her STRC programme and feeling better already. “It’s been an enormous help, and I feel thoroughly supported,” she said.

Daughter Kim was glowing in her praise the STRC team and how they lifted her mum’s spirits. ‘It’s like the sun has shone into my parents’ house again,” Kim said.

Mrs Sucic’s care team, all from HammondCare, are her ‘angels’. Team members include physiotherapist Jason Chen, co-ordinator Dominique Petersen, together with Occupational Therapist Madison Flynn, Exercise Physiologist Lauren Groom and Dietician Emily Colombage.

STRC services, tailored to the individual’s needs, may include occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nursing support, exercise physiologists, dieticians, personal carers, provision of equipment and in-home technology.

The research found that occupational therapists (OTs) and physiotherapists were the most common allied health professionals who provided services to participants.

Dr Lindsey Brett, Angela Collins, Kylie Lemsing and Professor Christopher Poulos conducted the research. Dr Brett praised the availability of data collected under the government-mandated modified Barthel Index (mBI), plus the additional data the HammondCare STRC team collects related to nutritional status, frailty, patient-reported outcomes, and goal attainment.

Dr Brett said the availability of this data made the study possible.

“This gave a much fuller picture of where the person was at, at the beginning of the programme, and what the person had achieved at the end, rather than just relying on an mBI,” Dr Brett said.

By using a variety of outcome measures, including patient-reported measures, the
STRC team had a greater understanding of their clients’ needs and preferences.

The research paper suggested that a broader suite of outcome tools, consistently collected by programme providers, would allow for greater opportunities for benchmarking outcomes. Consistent national provider benchmarking would also lead to opportunities to further inform policy and practice, and importantly, consumers.