Dad’s HCP 4.

My Dad was fortunate to be offered a Home Care Package 4, (HCP 4) just before the changes at February last year.
At that time, funding for Home Care Packages was allocated to the provider, meaning that my Dad was offered the Home Care Package (a) by the provider, being Prescare and (b) that Dad got the Home Care Package just in the nick of time and he didn’t have to go onto the national wait list.   

I cried when Prescare offered us the Home Care Package.
Tears of joy!

I knew Home Care Package 4s were rare and I also had some idea that at February 27th 2017 the department was already predicting a waitlist of 70 000 people at that time.
The waitlist is now acknowledged as being 100 000 people waiting for an offer of a Home Care Package.

I felt as though we had won the lottery.

Dad was unable to articulate the support and services he would require when we first entered into discussion with Prescare about what was to be included in his Home Care Package.
Mum and I discussed with Prescare and we agreed that the Home Care Package would cover domestic assistance each week, pool maintenance, lawn mowing, washing of their pet dog, meals and some occasional household maintenance, specifically repairing a gate that was falling off its hinges.

Consumer Directed Care.

As Home Care Packages are now delivered as Consumer Directed Care, meaning that the recipient of the Home Care Package gets to decide (within reason, there are some things a package won’t cover) what their Home Care Package funding is spent on, the flexibility within the Home Care Package is significantly more than what is used to be before Consumer Directed Care.

We were also able to negotiate with Prescare that the funding also partially covered the cost of petrol for my Mum’s car as my parents had a longstanding ritual of going for a drive each afternoon (this was part of our sundowning aversion plan).

Prescare required some supporting documentation regarding this ritual before they would approve this request.
We asked my colleague, who is a dementia support worker to write a letter explaining the necessity of maintaining routine with a person who has dementia and we gave this letter to Prescare.

The request was approved and Prescare covered half of the cost of petrol for their car.

Ask for what you want!

Consumer Directed Care is how all Home Care Packages are delivered now.
Long gone are the days when a package provider would tell the consumer what they could offer, and the consumer had to take it or leave it.

Given the increased competitiveness for business now that Home Care Packages and their associated funding is allocated to the consumer and not to the package provider, package providers are better at listening to and working with their clients to deliver the services and/or support that the client needs.

Do not be afraid to ask your package provider to consider any request you might have, for the Home Care Package funding to cover something that your loved one would otherwise be able to do if they weren’t restricted by their frailty or their cognitive impairment.

Consumer Directed Care means your care is directed by you!

I have no personal or professional affiliation with Prescare and I do not receive any incentive to promote their service.
However, I would like to publicise how wonderful Natalie, who is the Community Services Coordinator in my home town, was in assisting us to design and deliver a package that was uniquely tailored to my Dad’s needs.
Thank you Natalie and Prescare!