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Home and Community Care
The Home and Community Care (HACC) Program aims to provide you with a basic range of maintenance and support services to help you stay at home. The services are provided by the community, privately, and by church or charitable organisations throughout Australia.
- How can HACC help you?
- Home and Community Care (HACC) Reforms
- How to access HACC
- Eligibility
- Cost
- Standards of care
- Do you have a complaint?
How can HACC help you?
The HACC Program can help you with services such as:
- nursing care, including home nursing and assistance with continence management
- home help, such as housework, washing and shopping
- home maintenance and minor modifications
- personal care, such as help with bathing, dressing and eating
- delivered meals and day centre-based meals
- ancillary health services like podiatry and speech therapy
- community-based respite care (day care)
- transport
- assessment and/or referral services
- counselling, information and advocacy services
- social support (including neighbour aid), and
- carer support.
Home and Community Care (HACC) Reforms
Funding and operational responsibility for basic community aged care services currently delivered through the HACC program will transition to the Commonwealth as part of national health reform.The changes should have minimal impact on consumers and their carers. Consumers will continue to receive basic community care services from their current service provider.
For more information about the HACC aged reforms visit www.yourhealth.gov.au and check out the frequently asked questions for consumers and their carers.
How to access HACC
To access HACC services you can contact your local HACC provider directly, such as a Meals on Wheels service, to discuss your needs and adjust them as your requirements change.
And remember, should you develop more complex care needs you should enquire about other community services, such as Community Aged Care Packages (more information), Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) (more information) and EACH Dementia (more information).
For more information on aged care call 1800 200 422.
Eligibility
HACC services are designed for people who need support to continue living in the community and who are older and frail or who have a disability. So if you have difficulties with everyday tasks, such as getting dressed or showering, this could well be the extra support you need. HACC services are designed to reach people with the greatest level of need, as decided by HACC service providers.
To be eligible for the HACC Program you must:
- be living at home, be an older and frail person, or a person with a disability and have difficulty doing everyday tasks such as dressing or preparing meals,
- be a carer of a frail older person or person with a disability, or
- be likely to need to go into an aged care home or a hospital for care if you were not being provided with support from HACC services.
Cost
Some services charge a small fee that varies between states and territories – check with your local HACC service about the costs of the particular services you need. These vary according to your income and the number of services you use. Special arrangements may be made if you cannot afford to pay.
Standards of care
The HACC Program operates under a comprehensive quality framework to ensure that acceptable standards of service provision and program administration are maintained. The Community Care Common Standards Guide provide agencies with a nationally consistent approach to the quality and delivery of all HACC funded services. Agencies funded through the HACC Program are required to report on aspects of quality, including standards.
The Community Care Common Standards (the Common Standards) were developed jointly by the Australian Government and State and Territory Governments as part of broader community care reforms to develop common arrangements that help to simplify and streamline the way community care is delivered.
For further information see Standards of Care
Do you have a complaint?
If you have any concerns about the care being provided, it’s often best to raise your concerns, in the first instance, with the service provider. However, if you’re unable to resolve the issue or prefer not to complain directly to the service provider, refer to your relevant state or territory government department contacts on the HACC page.
Common questions on this topic:
See all common questions