Given that most people would prefer to remain at home, the government have decided to increase the subsidy to enable this to happen, which also happens to be cheaper for the government than subsidising residential aged care. The changes to Home Care costs are a significant change compared to the current home care costs. The Government have announced the following changes:

1. Changing the amount of government subsidy levels from 4 to 8.
These range from $10,372 per annum (Level 1) up to $78,106 per annum (Level 8) for those who require more care at home.

2. Introduction of Restorative Care Pathways.
Restorative Care Pathway offers $6,000 for up to 16 weeks. It is a short-term, goal orientated care options designed to restore function and independence for intensive, multidisciplinary allied health and nursing services, such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and dietetics.

3. Introduction of End of Life Pathways.
It offers $25,000 for 12 weeks (with possibilities to be extended to 16 weeks) to enable those who wish to pass in the comfort of their home by providing care and support they need.

4. Introduction of the Assistive Technologies – Home Modifications Scheme (AT-HM Scheme).
The introduction of this scheme is to allow people to access immediate equipment or modifications without having to save up funds from their home care packages. The Scheme offers:

• Assistive technologies – this ranges from simple aids, including walkers and magnifying glasses, to complex systems such as powered wheelchairs, speech-generating devices and specialised computer software like screen readers and voice recognition programmes.
• Home modifications – these include structural changes to a dwelling for example, adding ramps and widening doorways, installing fixtures such as grab rails, non-slip flooring and accessible kitchen fittings.

5. Cost of Home Care.
The government have split the services into three categories.

• Clinical support – Nursing, wounds, dressings, catheters, injections medications etc. The government will pay for all clinical costs.
• Independence – Enabling people to be independent for tasks like showering, getting dressed and getting in and out of bed.
• Everyday Living – This includes day to day task like shopping, gardening, cleaning and respite for carers.

CHSC = Commonwealth Seniors Health Card