What’s in-home care?
As the name suggests, in-home care is health care or supportive care provided in your home by healthcare professionals and qualified carers. It’s also known as home health care.
In-home care support can look very different from one person to another.
For example, in-home care services can range from having a support person to prepare home-cooked meals and do laundry, to having your medical treatments provided at home by registered nurses, to palliative care.
What are the benefits of in-home care?
In-home care has many benefits, including:
- Supporting your independence
- Enabling you to live in your own home for longer, in a familiar environment among your existing support network
- Saving your energy for the things that bring you pleasure rather than tiring yourself out by cleaning or cooking
- Helping to prevent falls by identifying risks and making modifications to reduce those risks
- Helping to ‘lighten the load’ for families who may have been trying to juggle care around work and other commitments
- Being delivered in a way that is personal and tailored to your needs.
Who can benefit from in-home care?
In-home care services benefit people in need of regular support or care, including aging Australians and people living with disabilities.
It’s a great option if you like where you live, don’t want to consider residential care at this point but would benefit from help with chores or personal care.
How much does in-home care cost and who pays?
Older Australians
Australian seniors can access services through a Home Care Package, tailored to meet their individual care requirements. This can cover everything from the installation of ramps or hand-rails in your home, to regular visits by healthcare professionals.
You may be eligible for government-subsidized aged care services if you have:
- noticed a change in what you can do or remember
- been diagnosed with a medical condition or reduced mobility
- experienced a change in family care arrangements, or
- experienced a recent fall or hospital admission.
You can apply for a Home Care Package through MyAgedCare. A Home Care Package can offset most, if not all, of the costs involved in accessing in-home care. When you apply for a Home Care Package, you’ll be assessed and approved for a certain level of support depending on your needs. You’ll be approved for government funding, according to this level. This will be paid directly to the care provider of your choice.
Depending on your income, you may also be asked to contribute personally to the cost of your in-home care.
A Home Care Package is a good option if you need several coordinated aged care services at home or if you have complex needs. If you only need a little bit of support, for example, one or two services, you may find the Commonwealth Home Support Program more suitable.
If you don’t qualify for government assistance but would like support, you can pay for in-home care privately.
Australians with disabilities
If you’re living with a disability, you can use your NDIS funding for in-home care
You may be eligible for support under the NDIS if you meet any of the follow criteria:
- You live in Australia and you are an Australian citizen or have a Permanent or Special Category Visa
- You usually need support from a person because of a permanent and significant disability
- You use special equipment because of a permanent and significant disability
- You need some support now to reduce your future needs
For veterans, in-home care can also be provided via the DVA Community Nursing Scheme.
How can Focused Health Care help?
We provide the services you need to continue living in your own home, enjoying your familiar surroundings, and living the life you want.
We help with those tasks that have become too difficult for you now. But we see beyond that too. We see you as you really are — a person with a fascinating life history who’s made a significant contribution to their family and their community over the years.
Our ethos and the quality of the service we provide is what makes people choose us. When you come to us, we can help you identify the best funding route and, once you’ve got your funding, we can work with you to decide together how best to spend it.
While there are many in-home care providers, Focused Health Care stands out from the crowd because we:
- Are a family-owned business – we treat staff and clients like family
- Are operated by Registered Nurses – we have a lot of clinical expertise managing the business
- Have no waitlists – we get people started with us as soon as possible
- Have a 24/7 phone line – we are contactable 24/7 to help wherever needed
- Don’t outsource to a call centre – you have direct access to staff at the other end of the phone ready to talk.
- Believe in client-carer matching – we match clients to staff that are a good fit for each other to make the whole experience more enjoyable.
- Provide 1-2 carers maximum – we make sure there are no more than two carers for our clients wherever possible so you can get to know your carers and feel at ease with them.
If you’d like to learn more about how we may be able to help you, then please call Focused Health Care on 1300 201 351 for a free in-home consultation. We have two locations in Queensland – Brisbane and Townsville.
