Your guide to self-managed Home Care Packages
When researching home care, you may have come across the option of self-managing your Home Care Package (HCP). So, what does self-managing a Home Care Package actually involve and how much support do you receive? We spoke to Five Good Friends Self-Managed Team Leader, Dominique Domingues, to break down the key differences and benefits of self-management, so you can decide if it’s the right choice for you.
Key takeaways
- Self-managing your Home Care Package gives you greater control over your care, budget, and booking services.
- You can bring your own trusted support workers and adjust services as your needs change.
- Five Good Friends offers expert guidance, intuitive tools, and proactive monitoring to support self-managed Members.
What is a self-managed Home Care Package?
Having a self-managed Home Care Package means that you, or your family, take charge of managing your package, giving you greater autonomy over where your funds are spent, who provides your care, and when services are delivered.
Choosing a self-managed Home Care Package allows you to do the following:
- Choose the services and support workers that best meet your needs.
- Decide how often services occur and who provides them.
- Manage your budget and track spending.
- Directly communicate with your care team and adjust your help plan as needed. (Your help plan is a living document that captures your services, goals and assessed care needs).
“Using our intuitive tools including our easy-to-use app, you can request services, match with care workers (Helpers), and schedule visits. You’ll receive a shortlist of suitable Helpers based on your preferences, and from there, you can start conversations, set up visits, and even negotiate rates. You have full choice and control over rostering and scheduling”, outlines Dominque.
What’s the difference between full service and self-managed Home Care Packages?
The biggest difference between full service and self-managed HCPs is the level of involvement you choose.
“With a self-managed membership, you decide how your funding is spent, you have a shared authority in purchasing decisions, and you play a more active role in selecting and coordinating your care,” explains Dominique.
What support is available for self-managed Members at Five Good Friends?
While self-management gives you more independence, you don’t have to navigate your care alone. Our dedicated customer service team is always available to provide assistance, and our care navigators offer expert guidance when needed.
“Care navigators can assist with complex or clinical queries, Home Care Package upgrades, annual reviews, and updating your help plan when your care needs change,” adds Dominique.
Self-managed Members also benefit from our advanced software and remote care monitoring to ensure their safety and well-being.
“Each time a Helper completes a service; they leave a check-out note with details on how the visit went and activities completed during the visit. Our software reviews this data and flags any potential risks, such as a fall or a noticeable decline in well-being,” Dominique explains.
“This allows us to proactively check in with Members and ensure their care needs are being met. We also have regular Member annual reviews and additional well-being checks for Members who live alone and have limited, or no, family support and minimal services in place. Our system prompts a care navigator to reach out every 60 days to check in and offer assistance. This ensures that even in a self-managed model, the Five Good Friends care team has oversight”.
Benefits of a self-managed Home Care Package
Choosing to self-manage your HCP offers several key benefits:
Lower fees, more hours of care
Self-managed Home Care Packages come with significantly reduced fees. This, combined with our industry-leading low hourly rates for Helpers, means you can direct more of your funding towards services and support.
More involvement, supported by our app
Self-management allows you to play an active role in your care, ensuring your services align with your needs and lifestyle.
“You are encouraged to play an active role and be more involved with the organisation of your care and services in line with the Home Care Package Program Manual”, says Dominique. “You choose who comes into your home and when.”
Support for self-managed Home Care Packages
Just remember that you’re not in this alone. When life gets tricky, it’s good to know that the Five Good Friends customer service team is always on hand to provide the extra support you need. Sometimes, a little help from your friends makes all the difference.
It’s also worth noting that you can self-manage a loved one’s package, even if you live remotely.
“We have family of Members living interstate or overseas who successfully self-manage their parents’ packages in Australia,” Dominique shares. “They communicate with Helpers via text, use our shared notebook, and coordinate everything online. It works really well!”
Take control of your care today - with a little help from your friends.
Some people prefer to be hands-on when it comes to arranging their support. Once their care and services plan is agreed upon, they can use their matched budget to coordinate the day-to-day. They can select services from the network, keep track of spending in the app, and when something needs to change, they book a consult with our team to update their plan. If this sounds like you, self-managing your Home Care Package could be the perfect solution.
About the expert
Dominique Domingues is the Self-Managed Team Leader at Five Good Friends. With deep experience in home care coordination and aged care support, Dominique helps Members confidently manage their own Home Care Packages, ensuring they receive flexible, high-quality, and person-centred care.