3 tips when choosing a home care provider
A My Aged Care in-home assessment will determine the in-home carer services you need – but when choosing a home care provider, there’s more to consider than just your support and medical needs.
What happens after the assessment by My Aged Care?
After you have completed the formal assessment process, congratulate yourself - you're one step closer to accessing home care! The next step is to begin looking for a home care provider.
When researching local in-home care providers, you should consider:
- Whether the provider operates in your area. There are providers who operate nationally, and then there are providers like Anglicare Sydney, who operate in certain regions of NSW including Greater Sydney, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region.
- The breadth of services provided by the in-home care provider. You may need a service that is quite uncommon, so it’s good to investigate this. Also, some providers like Anglicare offer pastoral care to package clients at no charge.
- How much providers charge. Expenses can include a basic daily fee, income-tested care costs and/or additional services outside of government-funded financial support. Anglicare does not charge home care package clients the Basic Daily Fee.
Selecting a professional caregiver is about more than just physical health. Nursing staff should also be suitable on a personal level, offering a source of emotional and spiritual strength to help you or the person you love through daily living. With these requirements in mind, here are three tips for choosing an in-home carer service.
1. Take a long-term care plan into account
When deciding on in-home help, you need to think about how you or your loved one’s care needs may change over time. For example, if you are looking for nursing assistance to manage an ongoing health issue, will this service still be enough in one years' time?
Changing care needs will affect the home care services required.
Deteriorative diseases can change the time needed to provide home care and affect the type of services needed in the long term. This can in turn change the fees you pay, depending on whether care is provided through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme or the tiered Home Care Package Program. While it may be difficult to forecast you or your dependent's level of self-sufficiency in the future, creating a care plan will help you choose the right home care provider. It will also reduce the need to change providers going forward.
Anglicare's professional Care Workers meet with you and your loved one to discuss the best approach to planning out this support. No matter the level of service required, we can develop a tailored care roadmap that accommodates anything from short term respite care to a long-term care routine.
Anglicare has over 20 residential aged care homes which provide clients an option to transition to high care if needs change over time.
2. Check the reputation and experience of in-home care agencies
When entrusting your loved one to a home care provider, you need to be sure that the provider is a reputable one. A provider that takes compliance and quality assurance seriously and puts it ahead of profits is one you want to be dealing with. My Aged Care provides a dedicated databank of providers in the local area on their website. All you need to do is enter your suburb and the tool will present a list of local and easily accessible home care providers.
As well as conducting this research, also read about the experiences of others receiving care from the same providers. Independent site Care Opinion Australia provides users the chance to anonymously publish stories about their care experience with any in-home care provider.
3. Meet the provider representative before committing to a home care package
Once you have settled on an in-home care provider, it's important to meet a member of the home care team before you commit to any home care package or additional services. Ask your home care provider about their internal process for matching Care Worker staff to clients, as this will give you some insight into the kind of person who will be looking after you or your dependent.
It's important to meet a member of the home care team before you commit to any home care package or additional services.
At Anglicare, we take care to match the right support staff with your requirements. This takes into account the cultural background, gender and interests of both those in need of care and our Home Care staff. We know how important it is to have your health and spiritual wellbeing in the hands of someone you trust and enjoy - it's critical to a longer and happier life!
Anglicare's in-home care service
Anglicare has served the people of Greater Sydney for decades. From our beginnings in 1856 providing care to people in need to our modern reputation as an organisation committed to home care excellence, compassion has always been our priority. That means we can develop a care plan that uniquely fits you.
Ready to meet some of our lovely home care team?
Inspired by the gospel of reconciliation in Jesus Christ, Anglicare's vision for reconciliation is a nation in which Australia's First Peoples are restored in dignity, respect, empowerment and opportunity.