572 Australian Health Review November 2009 Vol 33 No 4 Models of Care Aust Health Rev ISSN: 0156-5788 11 November 2009 33 4 572-582 ©Aust Health Rev 2009 www.aushealthre- view.com.au Models of Care Abstract Introduction: The purpose of this study was to describe the distribution of hospital and aged care services for older people, with a particular focus on transition care places, across Australia and to determine the relationships between the provision of these services. Methods: Aggregation of health and aged care service indicators by Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) region including: public and private acute and subacute (rehabilitation and geriatric evaluation and management) hospital beds, flexi- ble and mainstream aged care places as at 30 June 2006. Results: There was marked variation in the distribution of acute and subacute hospital beds among the 79 ACAT regions. Aged care places were more evenly distributed. However, the distri- bution of transition care places was uneven. Rural areas had poorer provision of all beds. There was no evidence of coordination in the allocation of hospital and aged care services between the Commonwealth and state/territory governments. There was a weak relationship between the allo- cation of transition care places and the distribution of health and aged care services. Discussion: Overall, the distribution of services available to older persons is uneven across Aus- tralia. While the Transition Care Program is flexible and is providing rural communities with access to rehabilitation, it will not be adequate to address the increasing needs associated with the ageing of the Australian population. An integrated national plan for aged care and rehabilitation Aust Health Rev 2009: 33(4): 572–582 services should be considered. OLDER AUSTRALIANS are significant users of hos- pital and aged care services. 1 Resources servicing the needs of older people include hospitals which provide acute services, subacute services that Lynne C Giles, PhD, Senior Research Fellow Julie A Halbert, PhD, Senior Research Fellow Maria Crotty, BMed, PhD, FAFRM(RACP), Professor Department of Rehabilitation and Aged Care, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA. Len C Gray, MB BS, PhD, FRACP, Professor Centre for Research in Geriatric Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD. Ian D Cameron, MB BS, PhD, FAFRM(RACP), Professor Rehabilitation Studies Unit, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW. Correspondence: Dr Lynne C Giles, Department of Rehabilitation and Aged Care, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001. Lynne.Giles@flinders.edu.au The distribution of health services for older people in Australia: where does transition care fit? Lynne C Giles, Julie A Halbert, Len C Gray, Ian D Cameron and Maria Crotty What is known about the topic? As older people move between hospitals and the community and residential aged care sectors, problems may arise at the interface of the sectors. The distribution of specialised acute and subacute hospital services for older people at a state/territory level has been reported previously, prior to the introduction of the Transition Care Program which explicitly aims to improve the flow between sectors. What does this paper add? This study describes the distribution of both hospital and aged care services at Aged Care Assessment Team region level. The findings highlight the uneven distribution of many acute and subacute hospital services and aged care services, including transition care. What are the implications for practitioners? The findings demonstrate the importance of an integrated approach to optimise the delivery of health and aged care services. If population-based planning benchmarks of the ideal number of rehabilitation beds for older people could be developed in tandem with the expansion of the Transition Care Program, greater effects on flows across hospitals and community and residential aged care sectors would be likely to occur.