Preparing for aged care can be a challenging time – for the individual and for the family helping a loved one move into care.
Services Australia appreciates that applying for aged care can, at times, feel overwhelming. That’s why we’re making it easier for older Australians and their families to find out more about their aged care options.
We’ve started rolling out a new face-to-face service across our service centres on behalf of My Aged Care.
Aged care specialist officers
Aged care specialist officers are available at 15 sites and by the end of next year will be at 70 locations around the country.
These specialist staff can provide more personalised face-to-face support to older Australians.
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You can make an appointment to sit down with an aged care specialist officer to talk through your aged care needs.
They can provide information about aged care options and financial support, step you through the process of transitioning to aged care and help with referrals for an aged care assessment with My Aged Care.
They can also connect you to a range of other support services, including local services in your area.
Help for remote and regional communities
Additional aged care specialist officers will also support our outreach services for rural and regional communities.
Aged care specialist officers will assist remote servicing teams that support people who live in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. They’ll travel with our fleet of Mobile Service Centres around the country and will also support other community, multicultural and Indigenous servicing teams.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older Australians and culturally and linguistically diverse customers can also access aged care services through our existing interpreting and community language services.
In every service centre
At any one of our service centres, staff can provide general information about My Aged Care and help to connect you to their online and phone channels.
Staff can help you with:
- information on the different types of aged care services, including aged care homes, home care or respite
- the steps you’ll need to take to access aged care
- general information about basic fees you’ll need to pay for aged care and other Centrelink payments or services
- registering and setting up a My Aged Care online account
- connecting you to My Aged Care’s contact centre.
To check the services available near you, visit our website at: servicesaustralia.gov.au/myagedcarefacetoface
You can also make an appointment to speak to an aged care specialist officer if there’s one in your area by calling us on 1800 227 475.
For more information about aged care, visit the My Aged Care website.
Hank Jongen is general manager at Services Australia.
Have you found gathering information about aged care services difficult? Will you access this new service? Why not share your experience in the comments section below?
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