A government-funded Home Care Package offers a wide range of supports to help you live your best life at home.
A Home Care Package can offer between $10,200 to $59,500 each year to pay for these supports.
Here are 20 things you might not know a Home Care Package can pay for:
LOOKING AFTER YOU
1. Kick-start your day
Home carers can assist you with showering, grooming, toileting and dressing and they can even help you get up and out of bed. They can also assist with fitting hearing aids and cleaning glasses. A Home Care Package can provide hands-on help to kick-start your day.
2. Make you more mobile
Home Care Package funds can help get you moving by paying for crutches, walkers, walking frames, walking sticks, wheelchairs, and mobility scooters. You can use some of your Home Care Package budget to boost your independence, confidence, and comfort.
3. Keep you well fed
If you could use some help with shopping and meal preparation, or you’re following a special diet, your Home Care Package can fund a carer to help you plan, shop, and cook. Alternatively, it can pay for your dinner to come to you – up to 70% of the cost of home delivered meals (such as Meals on Wheels) may be covered by your Home Care Package.
4. Get you out and about
Your Home Care Package can pay for taxi vouchers and/or personal support to travel to health appointments and social engagements.
5. Keep you connected
Your home care service provider can assist you to effectively communicate, including reading and writing cards, letters, and other correspondence. They can also help you to use the telephone and internet. This kind of support can be particularly helpful if you have arthritis or are sight or hearing-impaired.
6. Maintain your social life
Don’t miss out on the things (and the people) you love. You can use Home Care Package funds to receive support to travel to and from local gatherings, clubs, groups, activities, and events. If you’re keen to try something new, or to find some new friends, your home carer can help you to explore what opportunities are out there.
7. Check on your wellbeing
Not everyone has the luxury of living close to loved ones, but there’s no need to feel isolated or lonely. A Home Care Package can fund welfare checks and provide simple, regular companionship. We all need a cuppa and a chat sometimes.
8. Look after your skin
Your Home Care Package can pay for wound dressings, bandages, and skin emollients, as well as a carer to regularly apply and change them.
9. Help with continence management
Assistance with continence aids, as well as the purchase of pads, commode chairs, catheters, and enemas, can be covered by a Home Care Package. You may also be eligible for additional funding via the Continence Aids Payment Scheme (CAPS).
Read more:
Are you eligible for additional home care supplements? (agedcaredecisions.com.au)
10. Home visits from a nurse
A Home Care Package can reduce visits to the hospital, or your GPs office, by funding regular home visits from a Registered Nurse – who can provide rehabilitation and cognitive support, help with medication management, and monitor your wellbeing.
11. At-home allied health services and therapies
Home visits from speech therapists, podiatrists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals may be funded with a Home Care Package.
12. Tele-health
Assistance with getting and setting up digital technology (including video conferencing and remote monitoring) can be provided by your home care providers, helping you stay connected and ensuring that you receive the level of care you need.
Read more:
Telehealth | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
Aged Care Decisions assists tens of thousands of Australian families to find home care providers that match their specific needs.
Here’s how our FREE matching service works:
Our 100% FREE service uses custom-built software and professionally trained Placement Specialists to match your location, budget, care needs and personal preferences with providers that suit your specific needs.
HELP AROUND THE HOUSE
13. Everyday household tasks
Make daily life a little brighter by having your Home Care Package cover regular tasks like washing dishes, hanging out the laundry and vacuuming the carpet.
14. Those BIG chores
Has it been a while since you rearranged your cupboards, scrubbed the skirting boards, washed your windows, or cleaned behind the fridge? Your Home Care Package can get those big chores we all dislike done and dusted.
15. Garden maintenance
Home care service providers can help with mowing, weeding, hosing pathways and maintaining your garden, so you can enjoy a lovely outdoor environment.
16. Administration and paperwork
Do you regularly struggle with a mountain of paperwork? Your home care provider can sort your mail (and your email), help pay your bills and get (and keep) you organised.
17. Care for your fur-babies
Pet care can be included in your Home Care Package budget. Your home carer can take your pup for a walk, assist with regular feeding, and take your pet to the vet for you.
18. Emergency alerts – alarms/call system
A medical alert pendant allows the wearer to call for assistance quickly and easily in case of an emergency. Funding an alert system with your Home Care Package can provide peace of mind for both you and your family.
Read more about Home Care Packages:
Understanding Home Care Packages and how they work (agedcaredecisions.com.au)
MAKING LIFE AT HOME EASIER
19. Tools for around the house
Goods, Equipment and Assistive Technology that can be covered by a Home Care Package may include mechanical lifting devices, bedrails, slide sheets, sheepskins, tri-pillows, and pressure relieving mattresses. You may also be able to use package funds to purchase modified eating utensils and aids, or enteral feeding equipment.
20. Home modifications
Home modifications that improve your safety, independence and accessibility can be funded by your Home Care Package. Examples include installing wider doorways, ramps, rails, shower heads or easy-access taps, and the purchase of modified appliances.
Home Care Packages aren’t just for housework and personal care. Your Home Care Package Provider should help you make the most of your budget by tailoring services to your specific needs.
Aged Care Decisions helps thousands of Australian families navigate all stages of the aged care journey.
Our custom-built software together with our Placement Specialists can match your location, budget, care needs and personal preferences with Home Care Package Providers that suit your specific needs. We do the running around for you – and it costs you NOTHING.
Contact us now to get started.
Read more:
Home Care Package Guidelines – Aged Care Decisions
My Aged Care services – How to get your home care package – Easy Read version
