Aged Care Placement in Newcastle

Residential placement services

Our Aged Care Placement Services are independent, personalised and tailored to your needs.

Confidential Meeting: An initial confidential meeting with you and your chosen family members at a time and place convenient to you. This appointment, either in person or over the phone or Zoom.

Discuss care requirements: We will determine the type of care required e.g. residential aged care, dementia care. We will also discuss any special requirements and location preferences. 

Urgent respite care: Assist you to secure an urgent respite option. Liaise with Social Workers to coordinate the discharge from hospital or rehabilitation.

Manage the paperwork: The documentation requirements for an aged care placement can feel overwhelming. We will ease the stress by completing all government and admission documentation and assist with completing financial paperwork.

Liaise with Health Professionals: We will liaise with health providers, carers, family members and Aged Care providers to ensure the best outcome for your loved one.

Provide you with a shortlist: Will provide you with a shortlist of aged care facilities in your area that match your care needs with availability in the time frame that you need to enter care.

Arrange a tour: We will coordinate tours of your preferred facilities either in person, Zoom or by a virtual tour

Lodge applications: We submit the applications to your preferred aged care facilities and work closely with these facilities until we have secured a placement for your loved one.

Assist you with understanding agreements: We will assist you with understanding the Residential Care Service Agreement using plain language. 

After placement support: Our service includes a follow-up service after placement to ensure your loved one has settled in well & you are happy. We will communicate with family as well as clinical staff within the facility & help to resolve any teething problems if required.

Aged Care advice

The Rethink Aged Care team can provide advice and support on entering into residential care, including but not limited to:

• Assist in organising an ACAT assessment, if not already completed.

• Provide education around the types of fees that care recipients will be expected to pay, including:

  • Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD)/Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) if the care recipient is assessed as fee-paying.

  • Refundable Accommodation Contribution (RAC)/Daily Accommodation Contribution (DAC) if the care recipient is assessed as fully/partially supported.

  • Basic Daily Care Fee (BDCF)

  • Means-Tested Fee (MTF)

  • Extra Services Fee

• Provide cash flow advice on how to fund care costs and how to fund shortfalls, if any.

• Provide guidance on the impact of retaining, selling or renting the former home.

• Advice around how to best structure assets and income to provide a favourable Centrelink/Department of Human Services assessment.

Homecare advice 

The Rethink Aged Care team can provide advice and support for your Stay at Home Strategy:

• When we talk about Home Care the services are varied and are all funded differently with eligibility criteria that need to be met.

• We can assist you with arranging an ACAT assessment if not already completed.

• Explain your assessment and the services that are available to you and the level of service.

• Provide education around Home Care Packages (Level 1, 2, 3 and 4) fees and applicable government subsidies.

• Research in-home care providers and recommend providers that we believe best suit your care needs.

• Provide clarity and advice regarding whether the care recipient will be required to pay an Income Tested Fee towards Home Care Package.

Centrelink DVA applications & assistance

Rethink Aged Care can take a lot of time and frustration out of completing the myriad of forms that need to be completed at an extremely emotionally charged time. Engaging our services means that clients and their families do not have to worry about the challenges of dealing with Services Australia/Centrelink or be fully educated in how these assessments are completed.

We can complete and submit the following applications/assessments on your behalf

• Aged Pension Claim

• Blind Pension Claim

• Carer Support Income Payment Claim

• Carer Allowance Payment Claim

• Disability Income Support Payment Claim

• Residential Aged Care Calculation of your cost of care

• Residential Aged Care Property details

• Home Care Package Calculation of your cost of care

The Rethink Aged Care team provides peace of mind to clients by liaising with Services Australia/Centrelink by completing necessary forms, lodgement with Centrelink and follow up on your behalf until your application has been granted or finalised.

Centrelink / DVA nominee services

Rethink can become a client’s nominee and liaise with Centrelink on their behalf for, but not limited to the following:

• Updating income and assets to ensure you are receiving the correct entitlement.

• Querying any assessments that result in an unexpected change to entitlement.

• Continue to liaise with Centrelink/DVA to ensure your assessment is completed in line with our calculations & advice.

• Liaise with your Aged Care facility to provide updates on the progress of your assessment with Centrelink and ensure you are being charged the correct fees.

Note: we cannot become someone’s ‘aged care nominee’ only a PoA can be a nominee here. We can still put the PoA in place as a nominee and arrange for them to forward all correspondence to us.

Advocacy and Liaison

The Rethink Aged Care team can assist with advocacy and liaise with facilities, family, providers and carers as follows:

• Liaise with current care providers (home care and residential facilities).

• Liaise with/arrange for real estate appraisals for sale or rental of the former home if required.

• Liaise with the social worker in the hospital to ensure a smooth transition from hospital to the facility.

• Liaise with current professionals (solicitors, accountants, financial advisers) to ensure that advice is in line with current estate plans, and that any recommendations are carried out in a tax-effective way.