Blog

Retirement living, assisted living and residential aged care are often spoken about as though they are the same thing. They are not, and the difference matters.

If someone you love is in residential aged care and enjoying the benefits of an additional services package, there is a deadline worth knowing about.
All existing additional service and extra service fee agreements will cease on 31 October 2026.

Your parent or friend needs residential aged care, and you are trying to make the right decision. But as you begin talking to different homes, each conversation seems to reveal another fee, making an already difficult process feel even more overwhelming.

When we talk about men’s health, we usually talk about check-ups, heart health, exercise, mental wellbeing and social connection. There is another part of men’s health that is often less visible: the wellbeing of men who are caring for someone they love.

For many older people, the GP is trusted and familiar, and will have a sense of the person’s history, family context and local service options. The practice nurse is an important part of the picture too, helping with assessments, follow-up and noticing changes over time.

Palliative care for older people can work alongside aged care and Support at Home to provide comfort, symptom support and guidance for families at end of life. Palliative care is about getting the right care, in the right place, at the right time for a person with a life-limiting illness. This means an illness or condition that is expected to shorten a person’s life, such as advanced cancer, heart failure, lung disease, kidney disease, dementia, neurological conditions or increasing frailty.