Sunday 2 October 2016

Basic Things About Aged Care Services in Western Australia You Need To Know



If you live in Western Australia, you must be familiar with aged care services. But if it’s your first time hearing the word “aged care services” you are probably still enjoying your youth. Anyways, don’t worry, we will explain it to you cause who knows, you might need the services someday. Firstly, we have noted more often than not, people confuse aged care services with age care homes. Yes, they may sound like they mean something quite similar, but they are much different from each other.

Let us try to clear this once and for all, shall we? Aged care service is basically like a support program that helps seniors maintain independence as long as possible. Further, these services are available in different types and most of them are funded by the Western Australia government.
Everyone has different preferences regarding the level of support they will need. For some, residential aged care facilities are the best option that can fulfill their needs. Others, a community support setting will work just fine for them. But in the end, it’s the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) that determines who goes where depending on their needs.

Residential care support can either be permanent or respite. Here again, the ACAT assesses the elderly needs and determine eligibility. Permanent residential aged care services in Western Australia are provided to seniors who can no longer be supported in a community environment. Again, individuals have the different level of needs. There are seniors who need little supervision (low-care) and those who need 24-hour supervision (high-care). So these levels are calculated by the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) to establish who needs what.


For residential respite aged care services, things are a little bit different. First of all, it’s not permanent, meaning seniors can return to their homes. It’s just a temporary setting for pre-visits planning or in the case of an emergency. The low-care and high-care levels are also applicable to this aged care service. Luckily, carers may also be eligible to respite services. So if you are one, go ahead and give it a try.