Essential Services: In reference to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Care Connect has determined that services providing for physiological care needs (food, shelter, clothing, water, air, sleep) and safety care needs are essential. From this foundation, essential services are therefore defined as:
- Services that provide access to nutrition and hydration (e.g. shopping support, meal preparation, delivered meals, delivered shopping)
- Services that support clinical care (e.g. skin integrity, continence, medication administration/prompting, access to medication)
- Services that support medical care (e.g. nursing, transport to doctors appointments)
- Services that support the completion of Activities of Daily Living (e.g. personal assistance, individual supervision, assistance with communication, assistance to fit sensory aids, assistance to check hearing aid batteries, cleaning spectacles, assistance using the telephone)
- Services that provide domestic assistance to meet hygiene care needs (e.g. laundering, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning meal preparation areas, cooking and eating utensils)
Non-essential Services: Non-essential services are services that do not meet physiological or safety care needs. This includes (but is not limited to):
- Gardening and lawns, general maintenance, heating and cooling repairs, electrical repairs, pet care
- Support to attend social activities or 1:1 social support
- Non-essential clinical care (e.g. acupuncture, massage, myotherapy, dietician, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry)
- Mobile hairdressing and beauty services
- Respite services (including group or day respite) that don’t include an essential service such as personal care or meal support
Substituting Services: Wherever possible we are organising substitutable services eg. On line shopping instead of companion shopping; social Support over the phone instead of in person in the home Providers are encouraged to discuss this with Care Connect clients and then seek approval from Care Connect (this is limited the HCP and CHSP programs).