1. What is a Consumer Directed Care (CDC) in Home Care Package?

Am I eligible for a Government subsidised Home Care Package?

Eligibility for a Government subsidised Home Care Package (HCP) is determined by your in home care needs which are assessed by your local Aged Care Assessment Team (commonly known as ACAT).

ACAT operate out of your local public hospital. They visit your loved one in their home to assess:

• their in home care needs;

• decide which of the 4 levels of Home Care Package they need;

• decide what priority they will have on the waiting list for their Home Care Package called the National Prioritisation List (NPL), managed by My Aged Care.

You don’t need to read the full Government Guidelines for in Home Care Package issued by the Australian Government, Department of Social Services, here is the eligibility criteria:

‘for a person to be eligible for a Home Care Package, the person must:

• be assessed as having needs that can only be met by a co-ordinated Home Care Package of home care and nursing services;

• be assessed as requiring a low level of home care (for home care levels 1 or 2) or a high level of home care (for home care levels 3 or 4);

• have expressed a preference to live at home (includes a resident in independent living and assisted living (hostel) in a retirement village);

• be able to remain living at home with the support of a Home Care Package;

• for a person who is not an aged person – have no other care facilities or care services more appropriate to meet the person’s needs.

Are self-funded Elders eligible for a Government Funded Home Care Package?

Yes, they are.

Home Care Packages are a universal health care benefit available to all Elders whose care needs require the need for co-ordinated assistance. The international evidence is that when in home care is professional and of a good quality then in home care:

✓ prevents hospitalisations by getting health issues sorted earlier by your Caregiver observing changes and proactively taking you to the doctors;

✓ delays nursing home placement (often for years);

✓ it can help most Elders avoid the nursing home altogether;

✓ retains family and social connections;

✓ assists Elders to maximise their health, wellness and independence for as long as possible; and

✓ enables more joyful living (which prevents or reduces depression as they experience less losses than when they move into a Nursing Home).

There is specific financial information for self-funded Elders on our page “what are the costs of a Home Care Package“ including the real financial benefit of a home care package for a self-funded person after they have paid their Income-Tested Care Fee.

Who gets priority access to a Government subsidised Consumer Directed Care (CDC) Home Care Package?

From the 27^th of February 2017, the ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Team) decides the priority allocation of Home Care Packages (HCPs). Elders on the National Prioritisation List (NPL) are prioritised solely based on the date of their ACAT Assessment and the priority (low, medium, high) that ACAT gives them.

Under the Aged Care Act 1997, Elders who identify with, or belong to, one or more of the following 9 groups are recognised by the Government as having special needs:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• non-English speaking (culturally and linguistically diverse [CALD]) backgrounds;
• live in rural or remote areas;
• financially or socially disadvantaged;
• veterans, including the spouse, widow or widower of a veteran;
• homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless;
• parents separated from their children by forced adoption or removal;
• people who are care leavers (which is a person who was placed into an orphanage or children’s home, or foster home as a child); and/or
• identifies as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community.

So if you identify with any of these groups, please tell the ACAT Assessor. There are other factors that affect your priority status such as legally blind, age, existence of support, care already in place and ability for the carer and Elder to cope.

On the 27th of February 2017, the Government funding for each Elder’s Home Care Package became truly ‘Consumer Directed Care (CDC)’ because Elders and their families or Enduring Guardians received the power to transfer their Government funding away from their Current Approved Provider who:

• doesn’t provide quality Caregivers, Live in Carers and Nurses;
• doesn’t answer the phone;
• doesn’t listen;
• doesn’t provide good service;
• doesn’t provide fair value or enough hours of in home care and support to transfer to a New Breed of Approved Provider who does… like Daughterly Care Community Services.
• Makes lots of administration errors that eat up your Home Care Package funds incorrectly.