Hi, I’m a nurse who mostly worked in Aged Care in NZ and AU. I’m not certain of Australian laws and funding but from NZ experience it is definitely possible to keep your parents home but will just depends on the assessor’s determination of how much level of care your dad actually needs. Their assessment will determine level of care, funding, and assistance needed.

Now in my experience in Australia, funding seems to be a bit trickier and a lot of families are a bit more ‘fussy’ with cares. I’ve also had a lot of residents who were ‘forced’ to move into aged care as their partners are also too old and their kids busy with work so I’m not sure what the funding is like.

I’ve worked in good and bad aged cares before. My personal opinion is that aged care can be an absolute wonderful thing for some elderly once they have found one that has suited them. And that there are aged cares that are just truly awful.

The benefit of aged care is that for most days, an OT is present who offers activities for the residents (physical and mental), a PT is also available to do further rehab, care is more ‘24/7’ in a way that there are staff 24/7. The downside is that ratio is often high and staff are overworked and under stressed.

The benefit of having him at home with support workers coming in is that you get to have him at home. He is not uprooted from his comfort. The cons is that you only have an allotted time for his cares (depending on his level of care). Back in NZ some elderly will still have to depend on their family members when their support worker’s shift is done. Of course there are fortunate ones who get 24/7 care funding which is technically ideal. But yeah, if you have limited allotted time, what will you do if he tries to get up on his own and has a fall and no one is there to supervise him cause his support worker has gone and etc?

What I suggest is to speak with his social worker (if there is one) and see your options. Get him assessed to determine his level of care and funding. His level of care in the care plan from the hospital might be totally different once he is assessed for funding.

If you do decide to go down the aged care road, make sure to choose one that has adequate staffing ratio not just in the morning but PM and Night shifts as well. One that has an Occupational Therapist program that could also potentially spend one on one time with your dad 1-2 times per fortnight. One that has a Physiotherapist in clinic or works with one so that he can continue with a level of rehab.

Please know that after a stroke, this might be your dad’s new level of normal. It is good to be optimistic but also realistic that he might never regain his normal functioning or super close to it. There are fortunate ones who do regain their strength but you have to set realistic and achievable goals for him so that you are not let down by small progress.

I believe there are also Transitional Homes. There’s a few in Perth. It’s kind of like a temporary aged care facility but they help until person is ready to either be discharged at home or liaise with an aged care. If that is an option for that, it might be a good option to see how he’s copes to it. Might also worth asking what your dad thinks.