Respite Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy
Total Health Choice & Allied Health deeply respects the important role carers play in the community and their need to care for themselves.
Respite care means taking a break from caring, while the person you care for is looked after by someone else. … This ranges from getting a volunteer to sit with the person you look after for a few hours, to a short stay in an aged care facility.
There are several reasons respite care is considered, namely:
- To rejuvenate the family or care staff
- To cover for holiday leave of the family or care staff
- Post-surgery rehabilitation to work towards returning home
One of Total Health Choice’s core values is care, so we visit respite patients that are temporarily living at residential aged care facilities throughout Melbourne. We offer Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Personal Training which are delivered by our empathetic clinicians.
We have been performing respite-related services since our inception in 2011.
While respite is temporary care, we do not consider respite clients to be fleeting relationships. We love the opportunity to interact and build meaningful relationships with our clients, and then of course, maintain them, as one of our core values is trust.
Who is eligible for respite care?
- Certain homecare package clients (check eligibility at MyAgedCare)
- Private paying clients
Homecare clients may be eligible to receive a predetermined amount of time in respite (i.e. 10 weeks) per year.
In terms of funding, this is a highly variable situation. For example, if a homecare patient is transferred into an aged care facility for respite care, their homecare funding may be paused or not have allocation for respite. Some people may change to aged care funding (ACFI) or partly privately funded.
This is a case-by-case basis, please work with your homecare coordinator to know for sure.
At the time of writing, there is currently no funding for respite under the NDIS, so NDIS participants would pay for this service privately.
Booking Total Health Choice’s respite care services
Please fill in a referral form online or contact us directly by phone, we’ll be happy to help assuming we service that location. We are able to liaise with the facility, medical staff or any other family member as required.
We will make a plan for the respite stay, transitions between locations, as well as discuss ongoing services once the respite stay has concluded.
Respite Care FAQ
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How much does Respite care cost?
If our patient is privately paying us, the cost would be the same as we charge for our regular Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy home visits. These services can be claimed by private health insurance.
Please contact us and we can provide you with our rates.
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My Respite Care will take place at a residential aged care facility, do I pay them extra or Total Health Choice directly?
In most cases we are engaged solely by the individual.
This service works basically the same as our private home visits, which can take place at a home or a facility.
In the event you are staying at a facility that we do not have an existing relationship with, we will touch base with the management of that facility for scheduling and other matters.
