Does the DVA pay for Home Care?

The DVA does contribute to Home Care if you are a white or a gold card holder. The DVA’s Veterans’ Home Care (VHC) program provides practical support to assist you to remain living in your own home for longer and to maintain your health, wellbeing and independence. However, the amount of care funded by the DVA is low-level and won’t be enough support for those with complex or high care needs.

The DVA defines low-level help as “a small amount of practical help, provided at a low intensity on a short-term or ongoing basis, or increased intensity on a short-term or episodic basis.”

Veterans Home Care eligibility

DVA clients with a Gold Health Card or a White Health card who are living at home are eligible to be assessed for VHC services.

How do I get Veterans Home Care services?

Applying for Home Care services through the DVA is simple. The DVA will organise an assessment for you by a VHC Assessment Agency who will visit you in your home and determine your care needs.

Once your assessment is complete and it is determined that you are eligible for Home Care, one on the DVA’s contracted organisations will coordinate and provide your support services.

Does the DVA pay for Aged Care Homes?

The DVA contributes to some of the costs of Residential Aged Care for specific DVA clients. These are as follows:

  • The DVA pays for former Prisoner of War (POW) and Victorian Cross recipients Basic Daily Fee
  • Former POW and VC recipients are exempt from paying a Means Tested Care Fee
  • Veterans and war widows(ers) with lower level Residential Aged Care needs are able to access a range of allied health services and aids through DVA arrangements
  • The DVA may pay a contribution towards the cost of transport, meals and accommodation to eligible veterans or war widows(ers) who are living in an Aged Care Home and are required to travel to attend DVA approved medical appointments

What DVA (VHC) services are available?

As mentioned earlier, the DVA’s Home Care services provide basic, entry-level support only.

The support services provided by Veterans Home Care are:

Personal Care

Personal care support services provide assistance with daily tasks such as:

  • Showering, bathing, grooming
  • Toileting
  • Dressing, putting on compression stockings/socks
  • Bandaging, splints and callipers
  • Application of lotions and creams (non-medicated)
  • Mobility – getting in and out of bed, and moving around your home
  • Eating

Respite Care

The VHC program also assists carers through respite care. These services help your regular carer to take some time off from their caring role. The respite carer will temporarily take the place of your regular carer and provide personal care and domestic assistance services.

Domestic Assistance

The DVA will provide assistance with basic household tasks. Some of these include:

  • Cleaning: dishes, vacuuming, mopping, dusting
  • Bed-making and changing linen
  • Laundry/clothes washing and ironing
  • Assistance with meal preparation (not total meal preparation)
  • Bill paying
  • Shopping

The DVA will provide support workers to maintain the safety of your home and garden. These services are minor tasks that are likely to be performed by a handyman and will help to remove hazards around the home. These tasks might include:

  • Cleaning gutters, exhaust fans and air conditioning units
  • Pruning, weeding and grass cutting
  • Replacing lightbulbs, tap washers and changing batteries in smoke detectors or security alarms
  • Clearing of debris following a natural disaster and one-off garden clean ups such as fire hazard removal/reduction
  • Collecting, cutting/splitting and stacking of firewood (rural and remote areas only)
  • Minor home maintenance such as door/cupboard adjustments

*Please Note: home and garden services do not include major repairs such as those that would normally be completed by a qualified tradesperson. Lawn mowing and pruning will only be undertaken if they are a safety risk, cosmetic gardening tasks are not covered by VHC.

DVA and Home Care Packages

You can receive support through VHC services and support through a Home Care Package concurrently, however there are some conditions to be aware of. You are not able to access the same type of service from both providers at the same time. For example, if you are receiving domestic support through your Veterans Home Care services, you cannot also use your Home Care Package to pay for domestic support during the same period of time.

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