What government care is available for my mother so we can get her better so she can eventually leave the aged care facility and live independently? I am worried she will never recover without the ongoing treatment.

Hello Renae

I am sorry to hear of your mother’s stroke and the difficulties she is having with accessing therapy in her aged care facility.  It can be a very difficult time when transitioning form rehabilitation to a care facility.

It can be difficult to access ongoing therapy once someone has been discharged into aged care.  It sounds like your mother has been using the chronic conditions management treatment plan for her physiotherapy. This entitles someone to 5 sessions of allied health therapy at a Medicare rebated rate over a year. This would include both physiotherapy and speech pathology, but only up to 5 sessions in total.  Your mother would be eligible for another treatment plan, but not until next year.

Have you spoken to the Clinical Care Coordinator at your mother’s facility to enquire about in-house therapy options? This may be only once per week, but they could perhaps look at developing a program you and other family can do with your mother when visiting.

I would also suggest talking with your mother’s GP at the facility about community rehabilitation options that might be available in the area.   If eligible, the GP will have to write a letter of referral for outpatient community rehabilitation.  If accepted, generally you will have to provide transportation to and from the appointments. Your mother may also be able to access allied health therapy through the local community health centre. Community rehabilitation and community health centres will still charge a fee, but these are usually capped at a certain level per week.

If you would like to give us a call at StrokeLine, we could talk about some of these options in more detail. Feel free to call us on Ph. 1800 787 653 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Best wishes

Siobhan (StrokeLine)