Staying at home for as long as possible
For many families in Perth, the first question isn’t "which aged care home" — it’s "can we keep Mum at home a little longer?" Home care makes that possible, from a support worker who helps with showering in the morning to a nurse who visits for clinical care. Understanding how it works — and who pays for what — is the best way to arrange it without overpaying or getting it wrong.
The kinds of home care
Since the new Aged Care Act, in-home support is delivered through the Support at Home program. It usually combines:
- Support at Home services: help with personal care, cleaning, meals, transport and nursing, government-subsidised and arranged through an approved provider after a My Aged Care assessment.
- Private home care: extra hours from a home care provider, paid privately, when the subsidised services aren’t enough. This is the part families most often top up.
- Live-in or 24-hour care: a worker present around the clock — usually the largest cost.
- Respite and day programs: a middle path, giving carers a break while your parent is looked after for the day or a short stay.
What it costs and who can help pay
The clinical and care services are subsidised by the government; you pay a contribution based on your means. Before treating it as pure out-of-pocket, check every avenue:
- My Aged Care assessment: the starting point — an assessment sets the level of Support at Home services you’re approved for. Call My Aged Care or apply online.
- Means-tested contribution: what you pay depends on an income and assets assessment; clinical care is fully subsidised, while help with everyday tasks is shared.
- Veterans’ support: if your parent is a veteran, DVA community and in-home support can add to the package.
- Private top-up: you can always pay privately for more hours than the program funds — worth comparing providers on their hourly rates.
How to arrange it around Perth
Start with My Aged Care: the assessment sets what you’re approved for, then you choose an approved provider in the area. If availability near Perth is thin, widen the search to Fremantle, Joondalup, Rockingham, Midland, or Armadale — a solid provider a short drive out beats a rushed choice next door. And if things change, having already looked at one or two trusted aged care homes in the same area keeps a later move from becoming a scramble.
The questions that matter
How many hours a day do we really need, and are special skills required (transfers, dementia, medications)? Are workers employed and screened by the provider, or arranged privately? What are the hourly rates and any management fees on top of the subsidy? Who provides cover when a worker is away? When home care isn’t enough anymore, how do we move to an aged care home without a gap? Getting these answers in writing turns an improvised setup into a plan that holds.
A faster way to get your bearings
Curalune Care Help helps you sort through the options around Perth — home care, respite, or an aged care home — with a short list of contacts matched to your parent’s situation, usually within one business day. That way you choose calmly instead of ringing one provider after another.
The starting point, already done
Finding suitable homes, checking they can meet the level of care and gathering the contacts takes days of phone calls. Curalune Care Help gives you that starting point: 3 to 5 suitable aged care homes within 24 business hours, with contacts, links and a ready-to-send message you can put to all of them at once. A$109, one-off: if you don't receive at least 3 homes matching the area and criteria you gave us, we refund you in full. Start here