Choosing a home care provider for your needs

At Prestige Inhome Care, we know that having a carer support you or your loved one at home is a big step, and that choosing the right provider can be overwhelming. Below you everything you need to know about choosing a home care provider. This simple guide is designed to help Aussie families exploring government-funded Support at Home and private home care options, as well as people already receiving home care.

By the end of this 6 minute read you will be able to shortlist care providers, ask the right questions and be confident in your choice of the best home care team for you or your loved one.

you understand and navigate the steps, from getting started with My Aged Care, notifying Services Australia, right through to selecting the right services to suit your needs.

Exploring your options is the first step towards ensuring you receive the best care possible. We understand all the care options and information provided can be quite confusing. From your first connection with Prestige Inhome Care, we want to ensure you understand your options, gain the right advice and knowledge to make an informed decision about the care you deserve.

Step 1: Understanding your Home Care options

Government-subsidised home support services in Australia are available through My Aged Care for people aged 65 or over. What you need to contribute (co-contributions) to your home care will depend on your services and financial situation.

Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander people over the aged of 50 and people experiencing or at risk of homelessness aged 50 or over can also access subsidised home care.

Government-funded home care

There are 2 main programs through which you can access help at home: Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) and the Support at Home program. As of November 1, 2025 the Support at Home program replaced the Home Care Packages (HCP) program and Short-Term Restorative Care Programme.

Private home care

• You may choose to pay privately for your care on a permanent basis, or short term while you wait for government funding to be approved. You can also top your Support at Home package with additonal private hours.
• If you are approved for Support at Home funding you will receive a letter from the government informing you of the funding you have been approved for and which services.
• Prestige Inhome Care is a registered Support at Home provider, offering a wide range of services. We also offer private in-home care from 1 or 2 hours up to 24/7 care.

Once you have been assessed and your government funding has been approved & allocated, or once you have made the decision to fund your own care, you will want to choose the best home care provider for you.

Knowing your loved one’s needs first

Before reaching out home care providers it is important to have a rough idea of the things that you or your loved one need support with. If your parent or partner need help with dressing and showering, then they will require personal care as a service. If they need someone to take them to GP or hospital appointments, then they made require transport services. Here is a list of the services most commonly offered by home care providers:

• Personal Care: Showering, dressing and grooming, toileting and hygiene, assistance with mobility
• Domestic Support: light housekeeping and household chores, meal planning and preparation, grocery shopping, paying bills and assisting with technology
• Transport: Transportation to and from appointments, social outings, errands and activities
• In-home Nursing: Surgery, wound and injury care, medication management, complex care, stoma care, catheter management, diabetes management, health and wellbeing checks
• Dementia Care: Support of behavioural and psychological symptoms of Dementia – therapies to support agitation, anxiety or wandering, diet and nutrition
• 24 Hour Care: Round the clock care which can include any of the services listed here, delivered by a team of carers and nurses
• Post-hospital Support: Support recovering from an illness or injury
• Palliative Care: Care coordination, End-of-life comfort medication management, Home equipment support, Care Coordination, Shared Care Facilitation
• Companionship: Regular walks and assisted exercise, visits to family and friends, and community activities, assistance with hobbies, games and indoor activities
• Respite Care: in-home care providing temporary relief for primary caregivers by arranging for a carer to provide support – from a few hours up to 24/7 care, for a few weeks, months or more.
• Home and Garden Maintenance: lawn mowing and garden care, handyman services and minor repairs, clearing gutters, window cleaning
• Allied Health: Home care providers may offer Allied Health Services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, speech pathology, and podiatry. Some home care providers deliver allied health services in-house whilst other companies partner with different allied health organisations to meet the care needs of their clients.

Care preferences

Home care providers are also likely to ask you about you or your loved one’s preferences for care. This is important when a provider goes through the client-carer matching process. The more information you can give them about your personal preferences or those of you loved one, the easier it will be for the provider to match you with the right carer or care team. Think about any preferences you have for the carers coming into your home with regards to language, cultural background, gender, preferred visit times, cultural background etc.

Step 2: Making a shortlist of Home Care Providers

There are a few different ways you can start searching for home providers:

• Use My Aged Care’s Find A Provider search function.
• Word of mouth: Speak to your GP, hospital discharge planner, community organisations you may be in contact with, friends and family.
• Online search and reviews across Google, social media networks you use, and independent directories such as Aged Care Online.

It’s a good idea to create a list of 3-5 providers that may meet your needs and preferences. For example if your Dad lives in Noosa and he prefers carers who speak Russian, you should search for home care providers that may be able to match those requirements.

Step 3: Comparing & Choosing a Home Care Provider

Reputation, experience and local presence

There are many good-looking websites. However, when researching, make sure you dig deeper to find out specific details, and make sure you can answer these questions:

• How long has the company existed?
• Where do they operate? Do they have an office in your local area? You can look this up on the My Aged Care website or via the provider’s website or online directories.
• Do they have resources to help you get in touch with them when you need them, at any time?
• Do they have credible, legitimate testimonials from other clients?

Services, flexibility and continuity of care

Take a look at the range of services they offer and check whether they include the specific home care services you require support with. It’s also a good idea to verify whether they provide the flexibility to increase or decrease your hours of care, or change the times and days of your care visit as needed.

If continuity is important you should check whether each provider on your list strives to ensure you see the same carers on a regular basis. You might want to ask them what happens when your usual care worker is unavailable.

Fees, value and transparency

Once you have found what looks like a credible provider the next step is to understand their fees. Where possible find out about their care management fees, package management (if applicable) fees, hourly rates and any exit fees. Under the Australian Government’s Support at Home program providers cannot charge exit fees.

The key is to uncover any hidden charges so that you have a very clear picture of what you will be charged for your home care. In our checklist below we have listed a few crucial questions to ask home care providers about fees.

Quality standards, accreditation and safety

The reason in-home care is popular is that individuals can remain in their homes within the comfort of their surrounds. However, to experience the true advantages of in-home care you need to be able to recognise what a high standard of care looks like. If the company you are researching is an accredited home care provider, it means that they meet the Aged Care Quality Standards. The Aged Care Quality Standards have been designed to improve care outcomes and set clear expectations for providers in delivering quality aged care. These standards have recently been strengthened and this includes placing older people at the centre of aged care, being inclusive of people from diverse backgrounds, stronger requirements for clinical care, food and nutrition and more protections for you or your loved one.

At this stage, it is important to understand the qualifications that each provider’s care staff possess, and the training and other checks they undergo. At Prestige Inhome Care, care staff must undertake reference checks, police checks and background research before joining the team. Prestige personal care attendants are required to have at least a Certificate III in Aged Care.

Communication, responsiveness and family involvement

It’s a good idea to find out how often care plans are reviewed, who your main contact would be, and how you or your family members would be consulted about key decisions and how responsive their team will be.

Step 5: Recognising when it’s time to switch providers

Is it time to switch home care providers? Some of the signs that it is in your best interests to switch include:

• you’re experiencing poor communication or a lack of transparency
• you are being charged exorbitant fees or hidden fees which were not clearly disclosed from the outset
• you have safety concerns
• there have been issues with quality of services not being delivered correctly or consistently
• you aren’t getting value for money or adequate flexibility

It can be easier to switch than you think. If you’re considering switching providers, we can help you understand and navigate the steps, from notifying Services Australia right through to the transfer of services.

You’ll find a summary of the steps in our article: Is Your Current Home Care Provider Right for You? Discover How Easy It Is to Switch. – Prestige Inhome Care