Home Care Services
Introduction
Most people want to retire in their own home and in fact most Government supported aged care is actually delivered in the home, rather than in residential care accommodation.
| Commencing July, 2024 the "Support at Home Program" will replace the Commonwealth Home Support Programme(CHSP), Home Care Packages, Short-Term Restorative Care Program and Residential Respite. We will provide more details of the new program as they become available. |
During the course of 2017–18 over 1.3 million people in Australia received some form of aged care, with the great majority receiving home-based care and support, principally through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) and Home Care. This is illustrated in the chart below.
MyAged Care - the "Gateway" to Home Support Services
As with residential aged care, the gateway to obtaining government asisted home support is first making contact with MyAgedCare. Following registration and screening they will arrange for an assessment by either a Regional Assessment Service (RAS) - if you require "entry level support" at home - or an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) if there is an expectation that you may require more complex and substantive care. The MyAgedCare contact centre operates nationally from 8am–8pm weekdays and 10am–2pm on Saturdays, and there are about 80 ACAT teams operating throughout Australia.
As illustrated below, the RAS will evaluate eligibility for the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) and the ACAT eligibility for 4 levels of Home Care packages, Residential Aged Care and Transitional Aged Care.
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The Cost of Home Care
The Government provide significant support for the various home packages but individuals are required to contribute towards these costs through the payment of 1) a basic fee, which everyone is required to pay, and 2) an income tested care fee which is payable depending upon your level of income.
The Queue for Home Care
The major problem with Home Care at the present time is that there is a very significant queue for services - with just over 50,000 individuals waiting for access as at September, 2021. Iindividuals are placed in a national queue until a package becomes available and is assigned to them - with timing a function of when they were approved for home care and their priority for home care services.
"At 30 September 2021, there were 51,662 people who were seeking a HCP at their approved level, who had not yet been offered a HCP. Of these people, 98.3 per cent (50,798) had been approved for support through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP)"
Quote from Home Care Packages Program, Data Report 1st Quarter 2021-22
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