Residential aged care homes offer you a certain level of care, covered by the fees you have agreed to pay.
Some of the services are known as ‘hotel services’, which gives you a good idea of what to expect. It might not be the Hilton, but it should beat the 1960s-era motel on the highway!
These are some of the accommodation services included in your fees:
- meals
- basic toiletries
- social activities
- furniture, including bedding
- buildings and maintenance
- electricity, gas, water
- cleaning, laundry and rubbish removal.
Personal care is also included. Depending on your needs, you can get help with services including:
- eating, bathing, showering and grooming
- continence care and personal hygiene
- arranging medical appointments
- moving, including physio and rehabilitation
- medicine management and treatments
- emotional and communication support.
Complex care
Some residents need additional support, which may attract an extra fee.
If you need specialist mobility equipment, bedding materials, or ongoing specialist nursing or other health-related support, ask about whether it’s covered in your fees.
Aged Care Funding Instrument
Sadly, this ‘instrument’ is not a type of tuba that blows out money for older Australians. Happily, though, it can help keep costs down.
After about a month living in residential aged care, you’ll be rated according to your care needs in three categories:
- activities of daily living
- behaviour
- complex health care
If you have high needs in any category, or medium-level needs in at least two categories, your home can apply for additional government funding support, meaning you can’t be asked to shell out for complex care.
So maybe it is like a type of money-blowing tuba after all.
