Frequently Asked Questions

In-home care provides seniors with one-to-one assistance in the comfort of their own homes, which enables them to live independently. Coastwide Community Care helps seniors maintain their quality of life, and the personal attention they receive vastly improves their safety, health and happiness. Home care includes assistance with activities of daily living such as meal preparation, bathing, transportation, laundry, medication reminders, light housekeeping and companionship.

Our home care services are provided to aged and disabled Australians in a way that’s based on your unique needs.

For disabled Australians, Coastwide offers a wide range of services under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). To make things easier when you transition to NDIS, we provide state government-funded services in NSW. However, Coastwide also provides services to those who would like to privately fund their support.

For older Australians eligible for a Government funded subsidy to pay for their aged care needs, an assessment with an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) will let you know the care package level you have been allocated. There are four levels available:

Level 1 – Basic care needs

Level 2 – Low-level care needs

Level 3 – Intermediate care needs

Level 4 – High-level care needs

If you’ve already had an assessment with ACAT, then you’ll know the costs of in-home care that you can cover with your subsidy. To discuss your home care options, please call (02) 4353 1700 or get in touch with our team.

If you aren’t sure about your eligibility for government-subsidised aged care services, book a free assessment with My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.

Convincing older adults that they need help at home can be challenging. While they balk at the thought of losing independence, the opposite is actually true. By having a little help, they are much more likely to retain independence because they remain in control of decisions affecting their lifestyle. Once a crisis occurs (a fall, dehydration, a severe UTI), decisions about their care will be in the hands of others. With professional home care, families can enjoy peace of mind knowing their loved ones are in safe and caring hands.

We have a couple of ideas:

1. Ask your parents to try home care, at least temporarily. Once they meet their caregiver and see how nice it is to have an extra set of hands, “temporary” almost always becomes permanent.
2. Come up with another name for “caregiver.” Some of our clients are more receptive to having a personal assistant or a housekeeper/chef.
3. Ask your parents to do this for you …agree to a meeting with our owner. Once your parents meet our owner and understand that our company shares their goal of remaining at home, it’s a less threatening proposition.

The Home Care Packages (HCP) Program is an initiative from the Australian Government for the purpose of helping the elderly live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. The program provides a subsidy toward care, services and case management to meet the needs of the recipient.

There are four levels of support ranging from basic care to high-level care, each a different subsidy amount that is allocated to the recipient and paid to the provider.

Eligibility for a Home Care Package is assessed by an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT or ACAS in Victoria) . The assessors will talk to you about your current situation and will determine whether you can be assisted at home with a Home Care Package. This assessment is free and you can request an appointment by calling them directly or you can discuss your needs with your doctor or another health provider to get a referral.

To locate your nearest ACAT or ACAS services go to My Aged Care or call the My Aged Care contact centre on 1800 200 422 (Mon-Fri 8 am – 8 pm, Sat 10 am – 2 pm), from any location within Australia

Similar to HCPs, CHSP provides a subsidy towards services to help the elderly live independently at home. They differ in that CHSPs are for short-term care, such as when a patient is discharged from the hospital and needs help at home temporarily, or for those on the national queue waiting to be allocated an HCP.

There are many services covered by HCPs, including:

• Personal care, such as help with bathing and washing
• Simple modifications around the house, like hand rails or ramps
• Shopping assistance including prescriptions and groceries
• Nursing, physiotherapy and other allied health services
• Household jobs like cleaning or garden maintenance
• Transportation and help with public transport
• Equipment, including walking frames
• Meal preparation and cooking
• Social activities

The cost of care services within a package will vary depending on how many services are needed, what HCP level of funding the recipient has, the basic daily fee the provider charges, and the outcome of the person’s income assessment. Depending on the above, the recipient may be required to pay the ‘income-tested care fee’ to contribute to the cost of services received.

All of this information will be laid out in the Home Care Agreement before the commencement of services.

On 27th February 2017, the Australian Government brought in the Increasing Choice in Home Care reforms. As a result of these reforms, home care is now provided in a much fairer way to all older Australians.

After a successful application, your Home Care package is now assigned based not just on the length of time you’ve waited for care, but also on your individual care needs and personal circumstances.

You now have more choice and flexibility over the home care services you receive. You control the selection of your home care provider, completely replacing the old allocation process. In addition to this, you now have the flexibility to change your home care provider as your needs or circumstances change.

If you’re having money troubles, you can apply for financial hardship assistance through Centrelink, (Department of Human Services). This will help with both the basic daily fee and/or income-tested care fee. However, this is subject to an updated means test.