Tips for Choosing The Best Home Care Provider For Your Needs
Since Consumer Directed Care (CDC) was introduced in 2015, you can choose your home care provider and the services and care you receive. Home Care Packages (HCP) are government funded support for older Australians to access and make choices about the services and support they need to live safely and independently at home. There are 4 levels of Home Care Packages – Level 1 and 2 for basic needs needing more than one home care service and support to Level 3 and Level 4 for high care and more complex needs.
St Louis Welcomes all levels of Home Care Packages.
The Consumer Directed Approach makes sure you have choices about the services and support you can access and include as Government Funded Home Care Package funding is not an income stream to be used as you wish. Your coordinator can give you guidance on how to get the best outcomes from my aged care, aged care assessment team (ACAT) health wellbeing and lifestyle needs goals within your budget.
Ask about the Home Care Provider
When choosing a home care provider ask how they will provide choice on services and support to best meet your needs, and what is important about what is important to you. Ask about their home care services and company values to ensure they will meet your expectations. Your home care provider must be accredited and meets all the required industry standards. You may want to choose your provider by the size of the business, big enough to have all the support and services and still be able to offer but also have a personalised approach to quality services and it may be important that it is local, or family-owned.
Ask about Communication and Feedback
Ask questions about how communication and feedback are handled. Ask your provider about how to provide feedback or make a complaint about what the procedures are. Make sure they advise you of privacy and confidentiality and your rights and responsibilities. Look for an up-front, open, and honest approach to these requests and your home care provider can discuss them with you in normal everyday language.
Ask about your Support Plan and understand Care and Package management.
Getting the best home care is not always about getting the most hours of care for your budget it is about the quality of care and ensuring that your home care provider can support you to meet your well-being goals and meet the requirements of the home care package funding.
Home Care Package funding is not an income stream, it is funding allocated to you for services and support identified in your ACAT assessment. An ACAT assessment qualifies your eligibility for home care services, the amount of home care package funding, and the services and support that can be included in your support plan.
Your coordinator coordinates your services and support choices into your support plan and budget. They work with the rostering team to create your care support team to meet your needs this may include care workers, nurses, allied health, and other support networks. Each support plan is developed for each client and changed if it is needed or if there is a new ACAT assessment or review.
“Care Management is an important part of our service this includes coordinating your care and services. The coordinator’s role is to work with you to develop a Support Plan that allows you to achieve the goals you identify as most important to you. Their invaluable knowledge will assist you to maximise the value of your home care package and they will be your main point of contact with St Louis Home Care.”
Ask about the care workers, home nurses, allied health, and support network.
It is important to ask your Home Care Provider if all staff are screened and trained and have no disclosure on National Police Clearances. You may also want to know if the staff has reference checks, professional development, and ongoing training. It is important to know that Home Care Providers will provide you with a diverse team of support staff for your safety, independence, well-being, and security and to encourage a social network around your support and services. Home Care Providers like St Louis Home Care do not recommend you have a dependence on one carer or support worker as this may compromise your safety and ability to provide feedback.
“All our staff enjoy the opportunity to be part of a support team network and offer one on one connection and engagement with our clients and seek to provide the best support according to their support plan in the comfort of their homes.”
Ask about the fees.
There are fees you pay to have your Home Care Package managed. Some providers may charge a greater percentage for a lower level of care, and it is not consistent with managing the complexities of your care. Home Care providers like St Louis Home Care provide accredited home care, meeting government regulations, compliant care and package management, and a support team providing quality care coordination, staff, and care workers to meet your needs.
“Package management is the ongoing administration and organisational activities associated with ensuring the smooth delivery and management of your Home Care Package. It may include the costs for preparing monthly statements; managing your package funds; and compliance and quality assurance activities required for Home Care Packages”.
You may also want to ask to go through a statement, so you understand the fees, and how your services and support meet the budget and funding requirements of your home care package. You may also want to know how your home care provider meets the guidelines of what can be included and excluded in your home care package funding.
Ask if there are there any fees I don’t have to pay.
Ask your provider if they change the basic daily fee. The basic daily fee is an optional fee and not mandatory this may be up to $10.76 even if you are a full pensioner. Home Care Providers like St Louis Home Care are often willing to waive the basic daily fee for you. Ask about exit fees and if they are charged should you wish to change providers. Ask about other fees like exit fees and travel, sometimes there are different charges for travel when you are with a care worker but no charge for the care worker to get to your home.
Ask about Private Home Care Services – Welcome Care
You have the choice to pay for care and support without Government assistance. Private services mean you do not need a home care package you choose and pay for the care and services you need without a Government assessment. Some use this service while waiting for their home care package to be assigned or approved or for additional support if they need it.
Want to know more about St Louis Home Care?
Getting the right Home Care is about making the right choices in collaboration with your home care provider. At St Louis we aim to work with you to home care process as easy and transparent as possible and to provide the best care solutions to safely meet your lifestyle choices, needs, goals and maintain independence. St Louis Home Care has been an approved Home Care Provider since 1996.
Our family business started in South Australia in 1946, our motto is “Let our family help take care of yours” - a culture we have held strong over the decades with many South Australian families coming back over the generations for aged care they can trust. Our values of respect, dignity, fairness, and choice underpin everything we do.
For more information about starting home care, please call St Louis Home Care in Adelaide on (08) 8332 0950 or St Louis Home Care in Victor Harbor on (08) 8552 1481.
Want to learn more?
