Transition care helps you recover after a hospital stay. It provides short-term specialised care and support to help you regain your functional independence and confidence sooner, and avoid the need for longer term care and support services.
Your care is tailored to your needs and goals, and is delivered in the most appropriate place to help you meet them. This could be in an aged care home, in your own home, out in the community, or a mix of these locations, as your needs change with your recovery.
What help is available?
There is a range of services that transition care can provide. The exact care and services you receive will be based on your specific needs.
Therapy services
Low intensity therapy to help you recover sooner and safer:
- physiotherapy
- occupational therapy
- podiatry
- dietetics
- speech pathology
- counselling services
- social work, connecting you to wider community support
- social activities such as lifestyle, cognitive, and general exercise programs.
Nursing support
Clinical care carried out by a registered nurse:
- pain management
- wound care
- oxygen therapy
- medication assistance
- dementia support
- catheter care
- on-call access to specialised nursing services.
Personal care
Personal assistance with everyday tasks:
- bathing, showering, personal hygiene and grooming
- maintaining continence or managing incontinence
- eating and eating aids
- dressing, undressing, and using dressing aids
- moving, walking, wheelchair use, and using devices and appliances designed to aid mobility
- communication, including addressing difficulties arising from special conditions, such as dementia.
How does it work?
An assessor will visit you in hospital for an assessment. You can ask the hospital staff to arrange this assessment, or call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422. If eligible for transition care, you will be able to connect with a transition care provider to get the care you need. Your provider will then assist you with leaving the hospital, as well as entering and exiting care.
Where is the care provided?
Care can be provided in different locations. Where you receive your transition care depends on what the best place is for your recovery.
- For high care needs: a short stay in an aged care home where 24/7 care and support is available may be the best place to recover.
- For a lighter level of care needs: you may receive services at home and out in the community.
You may receive care in a mix of all locations as you recover and your care needs changes. Your transition care provider will coordinate and monitor all aspects of your care and help you transition between locations.
How long is the program?
If you are eligible for transition care, you can be approved to receive services for up 12 weeks (84 days). In some cases you may be able to extend your services for up to six weeks (42 days), but this will need another assessment.
However, if you need transition care again – even in the same year – there is no limit on the number of times you can apply. If eligible, you will be approved to receive services again.
What will it cost me?
You won’t need to complete a means assessment, though providers can request information regarding your ability to make a contribution (within reason). Importantly, your access to transition care will not be affected by your ability to pay fees.
While providers set their own fees in consultation with you, the government sets maximum amounts. Currently, the maximum amount you may be asked to pay is:
- $12.14 per day if you receive care while living at home or in the community (17.5% of the single age pension).
- $58.98 per day if you receive care while living in a residential setting (85% of the single age pension).
You can receive transition care in your home, out in the community, in an aged care home, or in a mix of all these locations. So, if you move between settings during your care, where you stay overnight will determine the rate you will pay.
Learn more about choosing and agreeing to a transition care provider.
Am I eligible?
You may be eligible for transition care if you are an older person and:
- are a patient in a public or private hospital
- have been told that you are ready to leave hospital
- would benefit from receiving services for a short period of time.
What if I already receive aged care services?
It is possible to access transition care while receiving other aged care services in the following situations:
Living in an aged care home
If you are currently living in an aged care home and are travelling interstate, you can access transition care services elsewhere. Your place in the aged care home is held until you return.
Receiving a Home Care Package
If you have a Home Care Package, your services can be paused until your return from transition care.
Receiving Commonwealth Home Support Programme services
If you receive home support through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, you can get transition care services at the same time. The two programs must focus on different aspects of your care and be assessed separately to avoid doubling up on services.
However, you cannot access transition care while receiving either respite care or short-term restorative care.