| As you age, the task of looking after yourself and
maintaining your home becomes more onerous. If the burden becomes
too great, a range of services are available to help you stay at home.
Assistance is also available if you are caring for an older person or
someone with a disability. Your circumstances and requirements may
influence the cost and your eligibility to receive particular assistance.
You can scroll down the page or use the following bookmarks to go directly
to a particular topic. Private
Home Care
Home and Community Care
(HACC)
Community Aged
Care Packages (CACP)
Advocacy
and Dispute Resolution
Day Therapy Centres
Private Home Care
Many private and not-for-profit
organisations provide home care services for seniors. Some of
these services, notably the ones described in the following sections,
are provided on a needs basis in conjunction with government programs
and are at least partly government funded. Others are provided by
agreement at commercial rates, or with a charitable subsidy where the
service provider is a not-for-profit organisation.
We have included a list of service
providers in the Home Care
section of our
Products and Services Directory, where you can also find
listings for a range of products and other services that can make it
easier to stay in your own home.
Home and Community Care
The Home and Community Care (HACC) Program is a Commonwealth initiative,
jointly funded by the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments.
Services are provided by a range of service organisations to frail older
people and people with a disability to help them live independently at
home. The services are either brought to the home or are available
in the local community and include:
 | day care in a day care centre that provides group recreation
activities |
| home help with household tasks such as cleaning, laundry and
shopping |
| personal care such as help with bathing and dressing |
| home maintenance and modification including repairs,
maintenance and modifications safely ramps and support rails |
| transport for shopping, appointments and social activities |
| food services including shopping, storage, preparation, home
delivery and meals at a community or day centre |
| nursing by a qualified nurse on a regular or occasional basis |
| other health services such as physiotherapy, podiatry, speech
therapy and occupational therapy provided at home or at a day centre or
service providers offices |
| advocacy services to advise you about your rights and
responsibilities when receiving services and to act on your behalf with
service providers on request |
| social support including help shopping, banking, paying bills
and socializing. |
Each HACC service provider has its own fee policy and most services
require a small contribution, depending on your situation. Special
consideration is given to people with limited resources.
You do not need to be assessed by an Aged Care Assessment Team
to obtain HACC funded services and you may contact a HACC funded service
provider directly to discuss your situation. You can find out what
services are available in your local area by calling a Commonwealth
Carelink Centre on 1800 052 222. This is a free call number,
which will connect you to the nearest office.
You can find links to the Commonwealth, State and
Territory Departments that administer HACC
here.
Community Aged Care Packages
Community Aged Care Packages (CACP) are flexible service packages provided
to frail older people and people with a disability to help them remain
living in their own home. The Commonwealth Government pays certain
community and commercial organisations to arrange and coordinate the
provision of the appropriate services by a variety of community
organisations in the local area and sets standards to ensure that quality
care is provided. Applicants must first be assessed by an Aged
Care Assessment Team (ACAT) to determine their needs. Service
packages are then tailored to meet those needs and can change over time as
the recipient's needs change. The individual services can include:
| meal preparation
|
| housework, including
laundry
|
| personal care, including
help with bathing and dressing
|
| temporary in home respite
|
| home maintenance
|
| transport
|
| social activities.
|
Before any services are provided, recipients should be offered an
agreement to sign which clearly sets out their rights and responsibilities
and those of the service package provider. The above
agreement may also provide for the payment of fees. Recipients who
receive the maximum basic rate of pension cannot be asked to pay more than
17.5% of that pension. Those on higher incomes may be asked to pay
additional fees, limited to 50% of any income above the maximum basic rate
of pension. CACP's are not subject to GST. You
can find contact details for Aged
Care Assessment Teams
here.
There is also an
Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) program, which you can read more about
here.
Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
Advocacy services are
available to
help older people and people with a disability understand and exercise their rights.
The services are generally free of charge and information, advice, support and
representation can be provided on a confidential basis. Contact
details are as follows:
| NSW- The Aged-Care
Rights Service: |
(02) 9281 3600 or
1800 424 079 |
| Queensland- Aged
and Disability Advocacy: |
(07) 3637 6000 or 1800 818 338 |
| Victoria-
Residential Care Rights: |
(03) 9602 3066 or 1800 133 312 |
| Western Australia-
Advocare: |
(08) 9221 8599 or 1800 655 566 |
| South Australia-
Aged Rights Advocacy Service: |
(08) 8232 5377 or 1800 802 030 |
| Tasmania- Advocacy Tasmania Inc: |
(03) 6224 2240 or 1800 005 131 |
| Northern Territory- Darwin Community Legal Service: |
(08) 8982 1111 or 1800 812 953 |
| Northern Territory- Alice Springs Centacare: |
(08) 8953 3177 or 1800 354 550 |
| ACT- Disability, Aged and Carers Advocacy Service: |
(02) 6242 5060 |
The Commonwealth Government has established a free and independent
service, known as the Aged Care Complaints Resolution Scheme to resolve
disputes that cannot be resolved directly with the relevant service
provider.
The Scheme can be contacted on 1800 550 552.
Day Therapy Centres
There are over 150 Commonwealth funded Day Therapy Centres (DTCs)
operating nationally. They vary in size and in the range of therapy
services that they provide. Therapy services, which may include
physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and podiatry, can be
provided to frail aged people who are living in the community or who are
residents of Commonwealth funded aged care homes. The aim of the
program is to assist people to either maintain or recover a level of
independence, which will allow them to remain either in the community or
in low level residential care.
Further information about Day Therapy Centres and their locations may
be obtained by contacting:
| Commonwealth Carelink Centres on
1800 052 222 |
| the Aged and Community Care Information Line on
1800 500 853. |
|
