It is important that attendant care service providers have appropriate and sufficient skills to enable them to provide high quality personal care, in line with best practice and industry standards. A care plan should be developed to direct the services to be provided to the client, and ensure that their needs are being effectively met. There are clearly defined roles and responsibilities that related to the provision of attendant care services. It is really important that these are communicated clearly to the client.
The DVA delegate is responsible for determining:
- whether attendant care services are reasonably required;
- the amount of compensation that is payable; and
- making payments of compensation for attendant care services.
The client is responsible for:
- choosing a suitable provider;
- ensuring that an appropriate standard of service is provided;
- arranging the times when the provider is to undertake the attendant care services and the conduct of the service provider in the client’s home; and
- ensuring that before a provider undertakes work in and around their home, the provider has current checks and clearances in place where appropriate including, public liability insurance, police checks and Working with Children checks.
There is no flexibility under the attendant care legislative provisions for payments in excess of the legislated weekly statutory limits, unless a Catastrophic Determination has been made for a specific veteran because of the nature and severity of their accepted conditions.
Provider payment rates
As a general rule, the hourly rate of payment for Attendant Care Services is based on the qualifications of the provider as set out under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (MA000100). The award can be found at the Fair Work Ombudsman website by searching the Awards page.
Specific payment rates can be found by searching the Award through the following link. https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/FindYourAward.
DVA may, at times, need to reimburse a client for attendant care payments made while the client is living overseas. With the production of receipts and confirmation of the approval of the service, DVA can reimburse the client in $AUD to an Australian bank account or to an overseas payment address.