More than 1 million older Australians are cited to receive some form of home care, with a bigger percentage dipping into their own pockets to fund it. There is also a big section of the ageing population that gets financial assistance from the government so as to obtain the care that they need. Also called personal care packages, home care packages range from level 1 packages (for low-level care) to level 4 packages ( for high-level care), and each package features individual funding amount or budget.
The first step to get the most out of any package is to choose a provider. But how do you go about it? Well, here are a few factors to consider when you are opting for a provider for the first time or when you want to switch providers.
The Services That They Support
Figure out what you would need at home to support yourself and come up with a list. Can the provider meet your needs? Consider their direct care staff (in terms of culture, gender, language, consistency), availability (weekend, day, evening), and the service options that they provide (home care, personal care, gardening, occupational therapy, physiotherapy). Remember, there are providers that only offer certain in-house services. If you come across such, ask whether they are willing to outsource the services that they don’t off in-house.
Identify Alternative Providers
You can always get better deals from alternative providers. Accordingly, before settling on a provider, try to check what their peers are offering. While local based providers have links to local communities that they serve, a bigger percentage of personal care packages Sydney providers are no longer restricted to geographical areas. A good provider should, therefore, serve you irrespective of their location.
When doing your homework on alternative providers, you can ask about:
• Fees: How much does a provider charge on case management and administration? What do they charge on direct care services such as personal care, cleaning, allied health visits etc?
• Staff: do the providers employ their own staff? What are their levels of training?
• Communication and relationships: how frequent does the case managers speak with the clients? How regularly do they review the care plans?
Final Thoughts
Lastly, when you’ve identified a suitable provider, or if you choose to stay with your existing provider, you can always negotiate on your personal care package agreement. You can negotiate things like your daily or monthly fee contribution. Generally, providers shouldn’t charge this fee, and can only charge up to 17.5 percent of Age Pension. The percentage that is deducted from the package subsidy for administration and case management can also be negotiated.
