• Maria C Inacio, Azmeraw T Amare, Craig Whitehead, Sarah C E Bray, Megan Corlis, Renuka Visvanathan, and Steve Wesselingh.
• Healthy Ageing Research Consortium, Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA), South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, SA, Australia.
• Australas J Ageing. 2020 Sep 1; 39 (3): e382-e392.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the access of approved aged care services and factors associated with accessing these services.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted (1/7/2003-30/6/2013). The incidence of accessing permanent residential, home and respite care services within one year or transition care within 28 days of approval was evaluated. The association of participants' socio-demographic characteristics, limitations, health conditions and assessment characteristics with service use was evaluated.ResultsIn 799 750 older Australians, the incidence of accessing approved permanent residential care within one year was 70.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 70.8%-71.0%), home care 49.5% (95% CI 49.3%-49.7%) and respite 41.8% (95% CI 41.7%-41.9%). The incidence of accessing transition care at 28 days was 78.5% (95% CI 78.2%-78.7%). Aged care seekers', assessments' and assessors' characteristics are associated with service access.ConclusionMonitoring the use of aged care service approvals is necessary for the identification of service access barriers to support evidence-based policy changes.© 2019 The Authors. Australasian Journal on Ageing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AJA Inc.

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