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Residential respite is a temporary stay in an aged care home. Eligible people receive up to 63 subsidised days each financial year, with possible 21-day extensions approved by an assessor.
Support at Home can fund planned overnight respite when it is approved and affordable within the budget. For a sudden breakdown in unpaid care, call Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 for emergency respite options. Residential respite is a separate aged care service with its own approval and annual day limit.
A secure memory support unit is a specialised part of an aged care home for people with dementia who need additional supervision and a safer environment. The best units combine security with skilled dementia care, meaningful activity, familiar routines and the least possible restriction on the person’s freedom.
Support at Home providers may use employees or contractors, but the registered provider remains accountable for ensuring every worker is trained, competent, briefed and supervised. For advanced dementia, families should look for demonstrated dementia-specific experience, consistent workers, an individualised support plan and access to specialist clinical or behavioural advice.
Restraint must never be routine or used for convenience. In residential care, it requires strict assessment, consent, documentation and review. In Support at Home, providers must also protect the person’s rights and must not use informal restraint in place of skilled, properly staffed and clinically supported care.
The provider should understand the reason behind the behaviour, support safe movement, reduce predictable triggers and maintain a clear response plan. Wandering or sundowning should not automatically lead to confinement, sedation or restraint.
Support at Home can fund specialised dementia therapies such as music therapy, occupational therapy, art therapy and diversional therapy when they address an assessed need and are approved in the support plan. A complete sensory room is not automatically funded, but clinically recommended sensory strategies, equipment or environmental changes may sometimes be considered.
Palliative care helps an older person with a life-limiting illness live as comfortably and fully as possible. It can begin before the final stage of life, can be provided at home or in residential care, and should support both the person and their family.
Yes. The End-of-Life Pathway provides around $25,000 of additional home-based care for eligible people expected to have three months or less to live. It can fund nursing, personal care and practical support, but it normally needs to be combined with specialist palliative care and family or other support rather than functioning as a complete 24-hour care service.
The Support at Home care partner should coordinate the practical and aged care services, while the GP and specialist palliative care team lead complex medical and symptom management. A written plan should make clear who does what, how information is shared and who to contact when the person’s condition changes.
Support at Home should adapt services to the person not require the person to abandon their language, culture, faith or routines to fit the provider. Ask for communication needs and cultural preferences to be written into the care plan and followed by employees, contractors and replacement workers.
Support at Home should allow an LGBTQIA+ older person to receive care without hiding who they are. A suitable provider should respect identity, partners and chosen family, protect privacy, train all workers including contractors and respond firmly to discrimination.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders can use Support at Home, CHSP and residential care, but may also access specialised culturally safe services through the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program, Aboriginal Community Controlled assessment organisations and the Elder Care Support program.
Residential aged care is generally not the intended long-term home for younger people with disability. Entry is tightly restricted, and younger people should usually be supported through disability, health and housing systems instead.
Transitional care after a hospital discharge is managed as a time-limited "bridge" to help older individuals safely return home and regain independence.
