A decade of change in a community health service: a shift to acute and short-term care.

There have been major policy changes impacting on community health services such as early discharge and hospital in the home initiatives. The effects of such policies on the client profile of community health services are not well known. Administrative data was used to explore a decade of changes in South Western Sydney Area Health Service community health services. There is a clear shift from a service primarily focused on child health screening to one that is increasingly providing acute and shorter-term care to adults with physical health problems. The changes are reflective of policies that are moving acute treatment services into the community.