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.
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 acceptance and close down any other applications.
After advising your acceptance of the offer, you have up to seven days to move into the aged care home.
When you have accepted an offer of a place, the aged care home will provide you with a Resident Agreement, covering the care and services they will provide, the fees you will need to pay, your rights, responsibilities and security of tenure.
There may also be an included or separate Extra Service Agreement, if the aged care home has Extra Service status and will be providing these upgraded services to you. These typically are for a higher standard of accommodation, meals and other services.
It would be prudent to have the Resident Agreement (and Extra Service Agreement if applicable) reviewed by your financial adviser and/or lawyer, before signing. You have a 14-day cooling off period from the date you sign up.
The aged care home will also provide you with an Accommodation Agreement, covering your room details, your room price, and payment options. This agreement is to be signed within 28 days of moving in. Like the Resident Agreement, it is a binding legal agreement between you and the aged care home provider.
It would be prudent to have the Accommodation Agreement reviewed by your financial adviser and/or lawyer, before signing.