We have an opportunity to get this right.
Australia’s aged care reforms are ambitious. But lasting change won’t come from policy alone — it will come from providers who treat care as a genuine commitment to how people want to live. Not to just survive but thrive.
The mid adult woman helps her senior adult friend carefully enter her home.
By Lee Walsh, Chief Executive Officer, Just Better Care Australia
Navigating aged care funding is rarely straightforward. Between assessments, approvals and the sheer volume of information to absorb, older people and their families are often left feeling uncertain about what to do and what comes next. That part of the process is genuinely hard, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
But here’s where I think providers like us have a real responsibility — and a real opportunity. The system may be complex, but the experience of care itself doesn’t have to be. As a sector, we can choose to carry more of the burden for the people we support. We can show up with clarity, consistency and genuine human connection. And with the new Support at Home program now in effect, this is exactly the moment to raise our standards and prove, day-in and day-out, what good looks like.
What do people want?
When we talk to older Australians and their families about what matters most, the answers are remarkably consistent. It’s not complicated: people want to stay in the home for as long as possible. They want familiar faces, reliable routines, and the confidence that the person walking through their door knows them and has their best interests at heart. That they genuinely care.
Knowing who will come, when they’ll arrive, and that they’ll remember how you like things done — whether that’s your medication routine, your morning routine, or how you take your eggs — matters enormously to a person’s sense of safety and dignity. This is what we mean by consistency of care. It isn’t care’s ‘nice-to-have’. It is its foundation.
Continuity also serves a practical safety function. When the same support teams visit regularly, they notice changes. They catch the things that slip between appointments — a shift in mood, a new bruise, a fridge that hasn’t been touched. That kind of attentive, ongoing presence is genuinely protective, and it’s something only high-quality home care can offer and provide.
The work behind the scenes matters just as much
There’s a version of home care that looks fine on paper but falls apart in practice. Visits happen, boxes get ticked, and yet the person at the centre of it all feels invisible, like they’re falling through the cracks.
Behind every good care relationship is skilled coordination. A dedicated Care Manager or Care Coordinator who acts as a genuine local point of contact — someone the participant and family can call when needs change, when something isn’t working, or when they have a question — makes an enormous difference. Not a call centre. A person. Someone who knows the participant and their case history, but more importantly, knows them as a human-being.
This is where technology, when used well, becomes an asset rather than a distraction. The right systems mean care teams are informed, handovers are accurate, and nothing important gets lost between visits. But technology should amplify human judgement, not replace it.
The goal is always to make the people on the ground more effective, not to substitute them with a platform.
“For families, the real measure of quality care isn’t whether services were delivered. It’s whether their loved one is continuing to live a life that feels like their own.”
Care is more than tasks
For families, the real measure of quality care isn’t whether services were delivered. Quality is whether their loved one is continuing to live a life that feels like their own. That’s a harder standard to meet, but it’s the right one.
It means supporting someone to get to their regular coffee shop, not just making sure they’ve had breakfast. It means helping them stay connected to the community groups, faith communities and social activities that give their week shape, meaning and purpose. It means treating independence not as a risk to be managed, but as a goal to be actively supported.
When we get this right, we’re not just providing support at home. Good care is helping people stay who they are — active, connected and purposeful. For a sector that’s been under sustained pressure and scrutiny, this is the version of care we need to be delivering consistently and at scale.
What families should ask
Choosing a care provider is one of the most consequential decisions a family will make. The criteria should go well beyond price and availability. I’d encourage families to ask providers directly: How do you introduce support workers? What happens when a change is needed? Who is my point of contact, and can I actually reach them and have a face-to-face meeting?
A provider who welcomes these questions — and answers them specifically, not in generalities — is demonstrating something important about how they operate. A provider who struggles to answer them is telling you something, too.
With the right support in place, aged care at home can be genuinely positive and enabling, for everyone involved. Not just a safety net, but a skilled and professional vocational offering that allows older Australians to live with confidence, independence and dignity in their own homes. Truly.
That’s the standard our sector should be holding itself to — and the one I believe families have every right to expect.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lee Walsh is the Chief Executive Officer of Just Better Care Australia, the Franchisor of the Just Better Care network and Australia’s largest franchised provider of in-home aged care and disability support. Their mission is to help older Australians and people living with disability to remain independent at home and in their communities. To find out more and get started with support services delivered by a local, friendly Just Better Care team. Visit justbettercare.com
