Aged care options.
Care in your home or residential care?
Staying at home is more achievable if you plan ahead. Wait for a crisis and the decision may no longer be yours.
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Home care
Knowing what services are available and when to access them can help you to live at home for longer.
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Residential care
Combining accommodation and care support into one package. You might also know these services as nursing homes.
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Retirement villages
A more community style of living for support or lifestyle. Also includes land-lease communities.
Home care.
Knowing what services are available and when to access them can help you to live at home for longer. Family and friends may be able to support you, or you can pay people to provide care services. Your four main choices for accessing help in your home are:
Rely on friends and family
Pay for private care services
Access the Commonwealth Home Support Program
Apply for a Home Care Package
The last two options (CHSP and Home Care Packages) are subsidised by the Federal Government, making them affordable sources of care.
The CHSP may be suitable if you are mostly able to cope at home, but just need some basic help with one or two daily activities to maintain your independence. The care providers receive funding from the government and structure their own service delivery models and pricing. They may ask you for a small fee.
Home care packages provide better support when you have multiple or more complex health issues and require a co-ordinated level of care.
The allocated package provides you with a specific budget and you can choose which services you would like to access and spend this money on. Your fees are determined by the government with a basic daily fee and, for part pensioners and self-funded retirees, an income-tested fee may be payable.
Home care services can be provided to you at your home, in a retirement village or land-lease community, or if you are living with family members in their home.
Residential care.
Residential aged care combines accommodation and care support into one package. You might also know these services as nursing homes.
Residents are older people who need substantial levels of care and are no longer able to live at home, but sometimes younger people with high care needs or serious debilitating illnesses might also live in residential aged care.
Staff are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help you with:
Your daily activities and personal care (ie meals, bathing, dressing, continence and mobility)
Cleaning and laundry
Entertainment
Family support
Nursing care, including medication administration and wound dressing.
Essentially, all the running expenses and responsibilities you had in your own home are transferred to the care provider, and activities that you might have done for yourself, or a family member helped you with, may now be done (or be assisted by) the available staff. Making the right choice of provider is an important decision. Think about the location that would work best for you and your family, and then contact providers in the area to do a tour and get a feel for life living there. Remember to ask lots of questions.
Retirement villages / land-lease communities.
You might still be quite independent, but want a more community style of living for support or lifestyle.
Each provider sets their own pricing, accommodation options and range of available services. The rules can vary greatly from one provider to another. So these are not quick decisions.
When looking at the finances, you need to check what it will cost to buy a place to live, the ongoing service fees and what you will get back when you leave.
Services and accommodation provided in a retirement village or land-lease community are not subsidised by the Government, so you need to ensure you have all the costs covered. However, you may be able to access the government-subsidised home care services.
Choose the right residential care.
It may seem daunting to find the right residential care place, but remember you are just choosing a new home - but with some extra red-tape and steps. Take a look at our quick video to get you started with some tips.
Find out more.
For more information, download our What are your choices brochure.