Aged Care
Twelve questions worth asking any home care provider
Choosing a provider is easier when you know which questions actually separate a good one from a plausible one. These are the twelve we would ask.
Sewa Care Australia
Every provider’s website says the same things: compassionate, personalised, locally owned. None of that is checkable.
These twelve questions are. We would be happy to be asked all of them.
About consistency
1. Will I get the same support worker each visit? The answer should be a clear yes, with an honest caveat about leave and illness. Vagueness here usually means a shift-filling roster.
2. What happens when my regular worker is away? You want advance notice and, ideally, a small pool of familiar backups — not a stranger at the door.
3. How much notice do I get if a shift changes?
About actually turning up
4. What is your no-show rate? A provider who tracks this will tell you. One who has never measured it is telling you something too.
5. If a worker cancels at short notice, do you backfill? In regional areas the honest answer is sometimes no. That is acceptable — pretending otherwise is not.
6. How far away does my worker live? This is the single best predictor of reliability. A carer who lives forty minutes away will eventually start cancelling.
About money
7. What exactly do you charge, and can I see it in writing?
8. What are your administration and case management fees? For Home Care Packages this can consume a startling share of the package. Ask for the percentage.
9. What is your cancellation policy, and when do you charge for it?
10. Is there an exit fee? There should not be. If there is, ask what it is for.
About what happens when things go wrong
11. How do I make a complaint, and what happens then? You want a named timeframe, and you want to be told you can go straight to the regulator without coming to them first. If a provider is reluctant about that, that is your answer.
12. Can I change my worker if it is not a good fit? It should be a simple yes, with no requirement to justify it.
The one to listen hardest to
Ask what they cannot do. Every provider has limits — geography, capacity, clinical complexity. A provider who claims none is either not thinking about it, or is willing to say yes and work it out later.
The ones worth choosing will tell you where their edges are before you ask twice.
If you would like straight answers to all twelve about us, call and ask. We will not be offended.
- Aged Care
- Home Care Package
- Choosing a provider