how hard is it to implement a carer

[aussieg46]

someone for carers if youre on dsp ,,, the dr reckoned i wouldnt have a hope in hades of getting one thru centrelink ie,,, them receive carer payment ,,,, yet hes stated no lifting in the review ,,, basket of washing etc light duties aggravate it ,,, is it worth trying to go down that route as opposed to going to the hospital for community services ,,,, as my jobs around that would have been my jobs are extremely neglected and its an effort to wipe the 3m sliding doors with all the mould take down curtains that are huge etc,,,

jsut after some ideas thanks

[aussieg46]

sorry if youve been down as being on dsp and if a review hasnt passed is one still entitiled to a carer as the situations have not changed .. so thers tht question as well ,,, not haveing an eady time finding anything on this site

cheers

[tasjo]

Carers and dsp criteria are quite different Aussie... you don't have to be on dsp to apply for a carer but you would need to have someone prepared to do it.

Unlike DSP there is still a medical report for carers - it takes a certain number of points to qualify and your carer must not be working more than 25 hrs a week including travel (generally means around 15-20 hrs max a week).

Carers is more based around personal care, assistance with food preparation, showering, light household duties that sort of thing.

[krystal]

Depending on what state your in, there are different ways of getting help.

In WA you can go through Home and Community Care WA
ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/F_I/HACC-Home-and-Community-Care-Program

and Department of Communities (Formerly Disability Services)
www.communities.wa.gov.au

and Silver Chain
www.silverchain.org.au/wa/

They come out an do an interview/assessment and then set up a provider to help you in your home (cleaning, laundry, showering, shopping, etc)

Some things cost $8 an hour, other things don't cost anything.

I am pretty sure each state has the same sort of thing that is state based so it doesn't include NDIS or Centrelink.

[mspurple]

My daughter was granted carers without me actually asking for her to be my carer. We were talking to the clink staff (about two months after I had put my second DSP claim in) about what options for job support were out there for her (as she was not receiving any welfare benefits and we really did not want to ask for any), and also what options were available for me to get assistance for personal care when she found employment.
I explained my concerns about her life changes that were made to assist me in my everyday living and how working a full time job (on top of her daily assistance for my needs) would be very stressful for her and that I was worried about her health as I know how demanding being a carer for a family member can be (I did it full time for approximately 8 years for one terminally ill grandparent and part time for the other grandparent).

So essentially we were looking for some support for her to get paid employment, but only on a part time or casual basis due to me needing her daily help. The lady looked at my file and she actually filled in the carers payment and allowance forms for my daughter and got her to sign them. I did not know she would be eligible for payments for the help she gives me otherwise I would have had her fill the forms in five years ago.
I was of the belief that the carers payments were only paid to people looking after or assisting OAP or DSP recipients. Amazing what you find out when you get a good staff member there. Some staff tell you more than you need to know quite willingly and other staff seem to get enjoyment from refusing to part with the helpful information that you need to know.

Anyway, I had apparently had enough information on file from years before hand, so nothing other than the filled in carers forms and signatures were required. I am only guessing the info that satisfied the requirements were Drs. reports (from my first DSP claim) and the conversation we had with the lady that day. When I asked her what I needed to supply to support that claim, I was told "nothing" and also was told that my daughters payments would be back dated to the date of what ever the date was on the supporting evidence they used. I am not sure how this was backdated as from what I understand they only back date payments from the date of the claim being submitted.

Basically, the fact that she is nearly always either pinned to my side or within yelling distance from me, and is on call to assist me with numerous household tasks and personal care tasks all the time (including being woken numerous times during the night to help me move when my legs loose all feeling or I have night terrors or sleepwalk) meant that all the criteria was met for carers payments.
So from what I understand if there is someone who helps you do things like housework, shopping, showering, dressing, food prep and other normal daily activities because you either can't do them or struggle significantly to do them alone, then they can get a carer allowance or payment.
I also believe that if she choose to gain paid employment then I would have been eligible for local council assistance (home care) for some of these tasks even though I was not on DSP at the time.

I guess soon enough I will find out the steps needed to get the help from outside as I really don't like the thought of having this sort of pressure on my daughter long term. She needs to be able to start her own life (away from mum) whenever she is ready to. So, as soon as she has had enough of being responsible to help me be semi independent, I will need to engage the services of outside help for the things she does or assists me with.

The no more 25 hours a week away from your carer role can be a little more flexible than a strict 25 hours a week. There is about 60 something days a year that a carer can be away from the person receiving care. The person receiving care must either be in another type of care such as a hospital or respite or alternatively have someone else provide care for the time the carer is unavailable. I think that if the carer or the one being cared for needs time away (holiday, illness, break, etc) then centrelink must be told.
I am not entirely positive of how many days in a row you can be apart and still receive carers payments, so far we have only had a weekend apart from each other, and I had my mum and son available to take over from my daughter.

It was actually easier to be granted carers allowance and payments than it does to meet the requirements for DSP. I now know of a lot of people who are not on DSP but have carers that receive carers payments or allowances.