SupportNetworkHome Care in Caringbah

Personal care, help around the home, nursing and good company, all provided by personal care workers based in the Shire, in an accessible suburb where getting to an appointment is genuinely easy.

• Workers who live in the Shire
• Minutes from Sutherland Hospital
• You choose who supports you
• No agency margin on your rate

Sutherland Hospital and specialists in the same suburb

you pay for nursing and allied health, whatever your income

personal care becomes fully funded for everyone

The home care services we provide in Caringbah

All your funding covers, organised around your daily lifestyle. Begin with a weekly visit and gradually increase to daily support, it's up to you.

Showering, getting dressed, grooming, continence support and mobility assistance, all from a patient individual you know and trust.

Domestic assistance

Cleaning, laundry, changing beds, as well as those jobs that become harder to do, maintaining your home just the way you like.

Shopping and preparing the food that you want to eat and enjoy, even that which you grew up with, in your preferred manner.

Social support & community access

The companionship that makes life feel like your own: company at home, outings, appointments, clubs or church.

Getting to doctor's visits, shopping, family visits and errands, accompanied by someone if desired.

Respite care: planned breaks so the person doing the majority of the care can rest, work or have an afternoon of their choice.

Overnight & sleepover support

Someone in the home overnight, for safety, for assistance overnight, or so a family carer can have an unbroken sleep.

Wound care, medication management, continence support and clinical oversight by registered nurses, at no cost to you.

Allied health & therapy

Occupational therapy, physiotherapy and podiatry, including home assessments which can decrease the amount of paid support needed.

Clinical services cost you nothing

Clinical support services, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and podiatry, are fully government funded under Support at Home, with no contribution regardless of your income or assets. And personal care is also fully funded from 1 October 2026.

What home care in Caringbah involves

The hospital is Caringbah's most unusual feature, along with the medical ecosystem that has developed around it, which is not found in any other Shire suburb. This alters the practical shape of home care here.

The hospital changes everything

Around Sutherland Hospital a tightly packed medical precinct has developed, specialist care services, day surgery, pathology, imaging, allied health, pharmacies. Having all that within a few minutes is a real and tangible benefit to someone with multiple conditions, compared to just about anywhere in southern Sydney.

It is reflected in the use of support hours. A community access visit in Caringbah can cover the specialist, the pathology collection and the chemist within the time it would take to travel from the outer Shire to one appointment. This is an efficiency that means a modest funding classification goes further here than the same funding does further out.

This is also important when it comes to discharge. If the individual is returning home from Sutherland Hospital, they are returning home to a suburb within minutes of the hospital, which sounds like a trivial detail and is not. Follow-up is smooth, community nursing is readily available, and a deterioration can be identified promptly rather than becoming an ambulance call. Call us before the discharge rather than after; it is far more effective if support has been organised before the discharge, and it is the most important factor in avoiding a readmission.

Two Caringbahs, really

Caringbah is in one sense a single suburb, but for home care it behaves like two.

North of the Kingsway, around the station and the shops, the housing is a mix of older lowset brick homes and a growing number of units and townhouses. Lots are smaller, the walk to the shops and the train is manageable, and the practical issues are the ones common to unit living, building access, fobs, intercoms, lift keys and visitor parking.

Caringbah South extends out toward the waterfront in the direction of Port Hacking and Lilli Pilli, and is another story. Larger blocks, larger houses in some areas, and gardens that require work. In this instance the problem is the property, the yard, the pool nobody swims in any more, the steps down to the water, the distance from the house to the letterbox.

Which part of Caringbah you are in tells us more about what support will be needed than almost anything else, which is why it's worth mentioning when you call.

Staying independent with the shops close by

Caringbah's local shopping along the Kingsway and Port Hacking Road isn't necessarily glamorous, but for an older resident it is just right, the chemist, the butcher, the GP, the bank, all reachable without a trip to Westfield.

The support that keeps somebody using those local services rather than having everything delivered is doing more than meets the eye. Walking to the shops with a person, rather than shopping for them, keeps them mobile, known in their own suburb, and keeps the routine that gives structure to a week. It's the difference between help that keeps people independent and help that quietly makes them dependent.

Worth noting: an occupational therapy home assessment is free under Support at Home regardless of income, and the equipment or modifications it recommends are funded from a separate stream that does not impact the hours available to you. In Caringbah South in particular, the OT will typically discover things the family no longer noticed, such as the step leading to the laundry, the unlit path to the garage, the bathroom with nothing to hold on to.

Starting before it becomes urgent

We are often called by families from Caringbah at the most inopportune time: someone has fallen, they are on a ward at Sutherland, and everything must be done over a four-day period.

Support assembled in that window is worse in every way. There is no time to meet workers or choose someone suitable, the selection is whatever is available that week, and the person being supported has no say in it at the very moment they feel they have lost control of everything else.

Beginning early, while someone needs a hand with the cleaning and shopping rather than personal care, is less expensive, provides you with real choice, and establishes a relationship before it is needed. It also means that, should something happen, there is already someone who is familiar with the home and can step in in a timely manner without having to start from scratch.

If things are basically OK and you are reading this, that's the ideal time to call.

Tell us when you call

Whether you are north of the Kingsway or in Caringbah South.

Building access if it is a unit, fob, intercom, lift.

Steps, slopes and the size of the yard.

Sutherland Hospital

The Shire's public hospital is in Caringbah, with the medical precinct around it.

If a discharge is coming, call us before it happens, it is the biggest factor in avoiding a readmission.

Why families choose us

The majority of providers send the person that is rostered. We do things differently, and it affects both what you pay and who comes through your door.

01  Local workers, not dispatched ones

We consider those who are already living around Caringbah first. A worker travelling across Sydney arrives late, charges travel, and eventually refuses to take the shift. A local one lasts for years.

02  You choose your own support worker

You talk to or meet people before making any arrangements; you make your own decision. If the person isn't a good fit, we continue until we find the one that is, that's normal, not a complaint.

03  Your funding buys more hours

There is no agency margin between you and your worker, so our rates are about $45 to $70 per hour, whereas traditional agency rates are $70 to $95 an hour. On a mid-level classification, that is approximately an additional three hours of support per week.

04  The same person, week after week

Support work is all about continuity. If someone who is familiar with your daily routine sees that something is different, it's caught before it becomes an emergency.

05  Straight answers about money

We provide a comprehensive written price list before you agree, clarify what your funding will go towards, and let you know plainly if we're not a good fit for your needs.

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Already with a provider?

Changes are possible at any time. There are no exit fees and your funding is carried with you. The transition is managed by us in order to avoid a break in your support.

Tell us your suburb and we will tell you who is available

No cost and no obligation. If we can't find the right person for you in the area, we will say so.

What home care costs in Caringbah

Very few aged care providers have rates published. We do, because comparing them is the most helpful thing you can do, and ours hold up.

Service	With Support Network	Typical full-service agency
Personal care, weekday	$45–$70/hr	$70–$95/hr
Domestic assistance	$45–$62/hr	$65–$88/hr
Social support & community access	$45–$65/hr	$68–$90/hr
Overnight sleepover	Flat rate, from ~$280	$280–$450/night
Nursing & allied health	Fully funded, $0 to you	Fully funded, $0 to you

Indicative Sydney ranges for 2026. Loadings for weekends and public holidays are applied. A comprehensive written price list is sent prior to commitment.

What that difference is worth

Take a Classification 5 participant: $39,697 per year, in the form of $9,924 per quarter. After the 10 percent care management deduction, about $8,932 per quarter is available for services.

Hourly rate paid	Hours per quarter	Hours per week
$88, typical agency rate	101.5	about 7.8
$62, with Support Network	144	about 11.1

About three and a quarter more hours of support per week, with the same funding base.

What you contribute

Your out-of-pocket contribution is a percentage of the service price, determined by an income and assets assessment by Services Australia. There is no charge for clinical care. Personal care and other independence services are 5 to 50 percent according to means; and everyday living services such as cleaning and gardening are 17.5 to 80 percent.

A full pensioner paying for a $65 hour of personal care pays $3.25. A self-funded retiree without a health card pays $32.50. Both pay nothing for nursing.

One piece of paperwork worth doing

If you have not had your income and assets assessed by Services Australia, you will be shown as “means not disclosed” and charged the maximum contribution rate, whatever your actual means may be. Some do not do it because they don't want to be seen, and are stuck paying self-funded-retiree rates on a pension income.

Do not let funding go to waste

Support at Home funding is quarterly, and only a maximum of $1,000 or 10 percent of the quarterly budget can be carried over. Anything over that will go back to the government at the end of each quarter. On Classification 6, underspending by $5,000 in a quarter costs approximately $3,825 permanently.

It is monitored on behalf of those we support and highlighted while there is still time to bring services forward.

No hidden charges

Providers are not allowed to impose separate entrance, exit or administration fees. The entire price is the service price.

Price caps were scheduled to come into effect on 1 July 2026 but were deferred in May 2026, making rates different between providers. Comparing published price lists is your protection.

Funded separately

Equipment and home modifications come from their own stream, so they don't use any of your service hours.

Restorative Care, typically after a hospital stay or a fall, the cost is around $6,000 for up to 16 weeks.

It's four steps, and the first step is a free phone call.

1.  Tell us what you need

Call 1300 671 931. Describe your suburb and street, the type of home, your classification (if you have one), and the type of support needed. If you don't have funding at present, we will tell you what to expect from My Aged Care.

2.  We look for workers nearby

We begin with people who already live nearby and match what you've asked for: times, gender, language and experience. You don't get assigned someone, you see who's available.

3.  You meet them and decide

Speak with or meet the people we recommend prior to committing. You choose. If the first person isn't right, we continue looking.

4.  Support starts, and we stay in touch

Your worker starts work on the date that you agreed. We check it is working, monitor your quarterly budget to ensure you're not missing anything, and make changes as needed.

Do not have funding yet?

Start with My Aged Care on 1800 200 422. The time from approval to funding is typically three to six months, so it is advantageous to start before you need it desperately. Many families use us privately during that wait and just go on with the same worker once their plan starts.

The most important piece of advice: at your assessment, tell about your hardest day of an ordinary week, not your best day. Assessments may occur on a good morning, families may gloss over the reality out of protectiveness, and the classification ends up based on a performance rather than a life.

Coming home from hospital?

Call before discharge, not after. Support put in place during the hospital stay is far more effective than putting it together at home, and is the largest contributor to avoiding readmission.

Questions people ask us

Yes. We place care workers in Caringbah and the surrounding areas such as Caringbah South, Cronulla, Woolooware, Burraneer and Lilli Pilli. We do not send people across Sydney; we look specifically for workers who already live close to you.

Absolutely, and this is one of the most frequent reasons Caringbah families call us. The ideal is to pre-arrange support before the discharge, not after, as support put together in the days after the discharge is far less effective. We can often have a worker in place for the day someone comes home.

Yes. Garden and lawn maintenance is a fundable service under Support at Home, as part of everyday living. For the larger blocks at Caringbah South it's often the service that allows people to live at home, since a yard and pool that is too big is one of the more common reasons people consider a move into residential aged care.

Our rates for support workers in Sydney are $45 to $70 per hour for personal care and household duties, versus $70 to $95 an hour from conventional full-service agencies. Weekend and public holiday loading charges apply. Nursing and allied health services are fully funded by the Government under Support at Home, so they cost you nothing regardless of income and assets. A complete detailed price list is sent in advance before making any commitments.

No. We serve Support at Home participants, people who have moved from a Home Care Package, clients of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, and privately funded families. Many people begin with us privately while awaiting funding, and once the plan begins the same worker continues to work with them.

Home Care Packages were phased out and replaced by Support at Home on 1 November 2025. Eight classifications, ranging from approximately $10,731 per year at level 1 to approximately $78,106 per year at level 8, are released in quarterly budgets. Each quarter, 10% of funds goes to care management before services are purchased. The amounts are indexed on 1 July each year, contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 for current figures.

Yes, and that is a key part of our work. Before anything is arranged, you speak with or meet workers, you choose the one who will support you, and you can change if it doesn't fit. Support is personal work, and compatibility is as important as qualifications.

Changes are possible at any time and your funding follows you, with no exit fees under the current rules. We take care of the changeover and ensure there is no gap in your support, including liaising with your previous provider. For most people, switching is much simpler than expected.

As of 1 October 2026, personal care (showering, dressing, grooming and continence support) will be classified as a clinical support, meaning there will be no participant contribution to fund it within your allocated budget.

Prefer to just talk?

Most questions can be answered over the phone easily, and at the end of the call there is no obligation.

Let's find the right support worker near you

Tell us your suburb, your classification and what you need. We will honestly let you know who is close by, how much it will cost, and when we can begin.

Monday to Friday. Free and no obligation.