A one-page plan for arranging care

This is for the week you realise something has changed and nobody in the family knows where to start. It is deliberately short. Six steps, in order, on one page. It is general information, not advice about your own situation.

1. Write down what you have actually seen

Before any phone call, spend twenty minutes writing plain observations. Not conclusions, observations.

Meals skipped or the same meal every day. Bruising. Unopened mail. The car with a new scrape. Repeating the same question. A shower that has not happened. Steadying on furniture between rooms. Missed medication. Not answering the phone.

Write the date next to each one. This list does two jobs. It keeps the family conversation about facts rather than opinions, and it is the single most useful thing you can bring to the assessment. Our guide on the signs it might be time for help covers what tends to matter.

2. Have the conversation with your parent, not about them

Nothing arranged over someone’s head lasts. Aim for one honest conversation before any organising.

Lead with what you have noticed and what worries you, not with what should happen. Ask what they find hardest at the moment, and what they would never want to give up. Offer help with one specific thing rather than a whole plan, because the shower or the housework is easier to agree to than “getting carers in”.

Expect a no the first time. That is normal and it is not the end of it.

3. Register with My Aged Care and ask for an assessment

This is the step to do today, because it takes the longest.

Go to myagedcare.gov.au or call 1800 200 422. You will need your parent’s Medicare number, and they will need to consent to the call or nominate you as their representative. Set the representative status up in the same conversation. It saves weeks of being told they can only speak to the person themselves.

Then the assessment is booked. Everything that is funded flows from what that assessment records, so it is worth preparing rather than winging. Our assessment guide explains the process, and the assessment checklist is the one to print and take with you.

Two things people consistently get wrong on the day: describing a good day instead of an average one, and not mentioning what family are already doing. Unmet carer need counts. Say it.

4. Sort the paperwork while you wait

The waiting period is not dead time. Use it for the things that are painful to do in a hurry later.

• Enduring power of attorney and enduring guardianship, if they are not already in place. These need to be made while your parent has capacity, and the rules differ by state.
• Advance care planning, so their wishes are recorded rather than guessed at.
• A single list of the essentials: medications and doses, the GP, the specialists, the pharmacy, allergies, Medicare and pension numbers, and who to call after hours.
• My Aged Care online account access, so you can see where things are up to.

5. Decide who in the family does what

Care arrangements fall apart on the assumption that the nearest child will absorb everything.

Split it into visible jobs and name one person for each: the phone calls and admin, the money and paperwork, the appointments and transport, the regular visits. Whoever lives furthest away should take the calls and the admin, because that work does not require being there and it is real work.

Then agree how you will keep each other updated, and how often. Our piece on how families share the load goes into the detail.

6. Choose a provider on the right questions

When a funded place comes through you choose who delivers the support. Price is the easiest thing to compare and the least predictive.

The questions that separate providers are about consistency and accountability: how many different workers will come through the door, who covers leave, who you ring when something is wrong. Our questions to ask a provider is written for exactly this call, and choosing a provider explains what good answers sound like. If language or cultural fit matters in your family, raise it at the start rather than hoping, and see languages and cultural care.

If something is needed this week

Assessment and a funded place take time, and sometimes the situation does not wait. Support can be arranged and privately paid in the meantime, then transitioned when funding arrives. Our guide on what to do while you wait sets out the options.

For carers who need support of their own, Carer Gateway is on 1800 422 737. For a concern about a provider’s conduct, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is at agedcarequality.gov.au.

The one-page version

1. Write down what you have seen, with dates.
2. Talk with your parent before organising anything.
3. Register with My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and request the assessment.
4. Do the paperwork while you wait.
5. Give every family member a named job.
6. Choose a provider on consistency, not on price.

If you would rather talk it through with a person than fill in another form, get in touch.