These are the steps you need to follow to enter permanent residential aged care in Australia:
Permanent residential aged care is personal or nursing care for frail older people who can no longer live independently in their own homes.
To apply for government subsidised care in an aged care home, you'll need to be assessed to confirm that you are eligible. This is a two part process. Firstly, you will need to provide some details about your situation, to the government's MyAgedCare office. You can do this either by telephone or via an online form.
Secondly, if the initial details you provided indicate your potential eligibility for residential aged care, a full assessment by a member of your local Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) will be arranged.
The ACAT person will meet with you and discuss your care needs. Subsequently you will receive a letter advising what type of care and services you have been approved to receive. The ACAT assessment is government funded and is free to you.
To start the assessment process, you can call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 or fill out the online assessment form here. (The online form is easy to use.)
Your ACAT letter will list the aged care services you need. You can also form your own list of the attributes you would like to find in your aged care home. This aged care home checklist has a good set of questions that you might wish to ask the homes you are interested in.
You can obtain a map and list of aged care homes in your desired location from our Find aged care homes page. Follow the link for each listed home, to see its most recent star ratings, the accommodation cost for different room types, a description of the facility and other information.
Once you have a number of aged care homes you are potentially interested in, you or your delegate will need to contact them and ideally, visit them.
The Australian government subsidises much of the cost of aged care in the community. But if you have means, you will be expected to contribute to your cost of care. For an understanding of aged care cost components, see Aged care costs.
You can get an estimate of what you may be asked to pay for residential aged care using the Cost estimator.
Most people entering aged care will need to have a formal assets and income assessment done by Services Australia or Veterans Affairs. It's best to arrange this early, before entering care, as the form to complete is substantial and the process takes time. You can get the form here Aged Care Calculation of your cost of care.
Side note: After this process is completed, you will need to keep Services Australia or Veterans Affairs up to date with changes to your and your partner’s personal or financial circumstances. This is both a legal requirement and will help keep your aged care fees correct.
When you are ready, apply for a place at one or more suitable aged care homes. You will need to talk to each of these homes to understand and follow their application process.
They will want to gather some personal information, see your ACAT letter, and see your fee notification advice letter arising from your assets and income assessment (or if the latter is not yet available, they'll likely ask that you provide some financial information).
Once you receive a suitable offer of a place, you can indicate your planned acceptance and close down any other applications.
Prior to entering the aged care home, the aged care provider will provide you with a copy of the proposed Accommodation Agreement. It will detail the published accommodation lump sum cost and daily cost for the offered room, any services provided as part of the accommodation agreement, the start date and other accommodation matters.
The provider must also enter into a Service Agreement with you, on or before your start day. This agreement should be in plain language and should be developed and negotiated by the provider and you together (and your supporter if desired). It should describe fees to be charged and how, when and by whom funded aged care services will be delivered to you and how you will be involved in decisions relating to those services.
On or after your start day, you may choose to enter into one or more Higher Everyday Living Agreements. These are optional agreements, which you may enter into to receive a higher level of services in residential aged care. Each agreement will detail the fees and service level to be provided. It may be for a single, one-off service or for services that are to be delivered on an ongoing basis, possibly for a just a fixed term. You are able to vary or cancel these agreements, subject to providing sufficient notice.
The above agreements are legal documents; and some payment methods can affect your pension and aged care fees. It would be prudent to have each of the your agreements reviewed by your financial adviser and/or lawyer, before signing.