Previously known as case management, care management is an aged care service that supports older people living in their own home and receiving care services.
It’s especially important for elderly people who are receiving those services through a home care package provider.
Care management ensures that the specific health and well-being needs and goals of the elderly person receiving the care are understood and managed with strategies in place to help them achieve said needs and goals.
Typically, a care manager or coordinator from a provider such as a Bayswater aged care provider will help develop the care plan whilst working with the elderly person.
They then monitor how things are progressing to ensure that they are receiving the care they want but also that the care and support provided is correct.
For older people receiving home care services, care management is really about getting to know the individual to ensure their needs are understood whilst also understanding their goals and interests.
All of this informs the care plan this is put together for them.
Why is Care Management Important?
Bayswater aged care providers and care workers, care management creates an opportunity to really get to know the elderly person in question.
This includes their needs, goals and what’s important to them as previously mentioned.
With regards to home care, no client is the same as each one has all sorts of different goals.
For example, some of them are practical goals such as getting the house work under control or assisting with the weekly washing.
For others, their goals are related to keeping in touch with their community, so they’re typically looking for assistance to get out regularly and visit places such as the library center or lawn bowls club.
What Does Care Management Include and How Does it Work?
Care management is a support service not only for elderly people but for their carer or family as well.
Whether this support is in the form of understanding health information or finding ways to ensure the client lives independently for as long as possible, a Bayswater aged care case manager will work proactively to meet the needs of the client.
These needs might change due to illness or a seasonal change such as adding in extra support around the Christmas holidays.
Most case management services will typically include the following:
- Initial and ongoing assessments of the elderly person’s needs such as health, social support and general well-being
- Ongoing progress monitoring
- Support and education for the elderly person in question but also their carer and/or family members
- Advocacy for navigating the health and aged care systems such as accessing aged care services if they aren’t already in place
- Working with other community and health care providers to ensure the elderly person in question is receiving all the necessary services pertaining to their needs.
Care management for the elderly, especially care management in the comfort of their own home, is incredibly important as they transition into this next phase of their life.
Getting in touch with a Bayswater aged care provider for you or your loved one is an ideal way to get this process underway.