How to apply for Support at Home

Starting your aged care journey begins with setting up your profile with My Aged Care (1800 200 422).

My Aged Care is the Federal Government’s organisation that supports you to find out more about aged care and what potential government-funded aged care services you may be able to receive.

Setting up a profile with My Aged Care allows you to check what services you may be eligible for.

Juniper tips

1. You will need to provide some personal information such as your address and phone number.
2. Have your Medicare card ready.
3. You may want to set up consent for a trusted person to call on your behalf.
4. You will need to share some of your current experiences with daily living.

Once you have given your details to My Aged Care you will receive a My Aged Care ID number which is unique to your profile. This is an important number to have throughout your journey so My Aged Care and the aged care provider you choose can quickly see all your details and updates in one place.

You can apply for an assessment through My Aged Care. An assessment is where a person from My Aged Care talks to you about your circumstances so they can assess which services you qualify for and how much assistance you will receive.

During the assessment a nurse, social worker, or another government representative will visit your home. They will evaluate your physical and mental health, look at how you manage everyday activities, and ask questions to identify the support you need.

You should have handy:

• Medicare card and one other form of ID proof (DVA card, driver’s license, healthcare card, or passport)
• A support person (if you would like one)
• Any doctor referrals
• Your GP or other health professionals contact details
• Any information on any support you receive
• Let My Aged Care know if you need special assistance to communicate, such as a translator or Auslan interpreter

Juniper tips

The assessor is there to understand what daily life is really like for you. They’ll look at your clinical, independence, and everyday needs — things you might need help with to reach your goals. It’s important to be honest and share examples of how things may have recently changed.

If you are not comfortable to contact My Aged Care directly, there are other ways to get an assessment. A health or aged care professional can make a referral for an assessment for you using My Aged Care’s “Make a referral tool”. You can ask the below
professionals to do this for you:

• Your GP, medical specialist or nurse;
• Hospital professional or administration staff;
• Community health professional;
• Community workers;
• Or aged care service provider (like Juniper).

The professional will require your Medicare or DVA details and personal information, including your date of birth and contact details. Once you have been referred, a My Aged Care assessor will call
(usually 2-6 weeks) to make a time for your assessment.

My Aged Care will send you a letter with your assessment results and if you are eligible for services, as well as a support plan with instructions on what to do next.

For each service you are eligible for you will receive a unique referral code. You can also see this information online on your My Aged Care account.

If you are awarded Support at Home, you assessment results will outline which services you are eligible to receive and your classification.

To start receiving services from Juniper, you will need to wait to hear from My Aged Care of when funding has been assigned to you.

You may need to contribute to the cost of your Support at Home services. Services Australia (or Department of Veterans’ Affairs for DVA customers) will calculate your contributions, and how much you pay depends on the results of your means assessment (your assets and income) and the services you receive.

It is important you contact Services Australia, otherwise maximum contributions apply.

Contact Services Australia on 1800 227 475.

To receive Juniper Home Care services you simply need to get in touch with us (call 08 6363 6324 or make a website enquiry). 

What you’ll need to have handy 

• Identification (Any three of the following: pensioner concession card, driver’s licence, Medicare card, passport, rates or utility bill)  
• Letter from My Aged Care with Referral code OR 
• Your Commonwealth Home Support Programme referral code if you have it. If you don’t, we can look you up in the system.

Your Juniper Care Partner visits you to carefully listen to your needs, find out what is meaningful to you and understand what you want to achieve. Together you will develop and discuss your Care Plan. You will be given a Juniper Home Care Agreement to sign and the Juniper team will set up services according to your assessed need.

Services will start according to your Support at Home Care Plan.

As you change, so will your care plan. Your Care Partner regularly checks back in with you to ensure your services continue to meet your needs. If something doesn’t feel right or you notice your needs shifting, you can request a plan review from your Care Partner at any time.