What is preventive care?

Preventive care includes health services that help stop problems before they start or catch them early when they’re easier to treat. Under Support at Home, preventive clinical services are fully funded.

Falls prevention: Stopping falls before they happen  

Falls are the leading cause of injury for older people, but many falls can be prevented. Physiotherapists provide balance and strength assessment to identify your fall risk, individualised exercise programs to improve strength and balance, practice with walking aids if you need them and education about fall risks and how to avoid them. Occupational therapists provide home safety assessments to identify hazards, recommendations for grab rails, lighting, and other modifications, advice on safe ways to do daily tasks, and footwear assessment and recommendations.  

Falls prevention is important because one in three people over 65 falls each year. Falls can lead to serious injuries like hip fractures. Recovering from falls takes longer as we age. Falls reduce confidence and independence.

  

Chronic disease management: Keeping conditions under control  

Many older people live with ongoing health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, COPD or arthritis. Clinical supports help you manage these conditions to prevent complications. Registered nurses provide regular monitoring of your conditions, medication management to ensure you’re taking medicines correctly, education about your conditions and warning signs, wound care if you have diabetic ulcers or pressure injuries, and coordination with your doctor and specialists.  

Dietitians provide meal plans to manage diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease, strategies to maintain a healthy weight, advice on foods that help or worsen your condition, and education about nutrition for chronic illness. Physiotherapists provide exercises that help manage arthritis and chronic pain, breathing exercises for COPD, rehabilitation after cardiac events, and strategies to stay active safely with chronic conditions.  

Good management of chronic conditions prevents hospital admissions, reduces complications, helps you feel better day-to-day, maintains your independence longer and improves your quality of life.   

Nutrition and hydration: Building health from the inside  

Good nutrition prevents malnutrition, pressure injuries, infections, falls due to weakness, cognitive decline, and loss of independence. Many older people don’t eat or drink enough, which leads to health problems. Dietitians assess your nutritional status and identify deficiencies, create meal plans that meet your nutritional needs, provide advice if you’re losing weight without trying, recommend supplements if needed, and give strategies for small appetites or difficulty swallowing.  

Mental health support: Looking after emotional wellbeing  

Mental health is just as important as physical health for your overall wellbeing. Early support for mental health prevents depression, reduces anxiety that affects daily life, helps you cope with life changes, prevents social isolation and maintains your quality of life. Psychologists provide counselling for depression and anxiety, strategies to cope with health changes, support during grief and loss, help adjusting to functional decline, and techniques for managing stress and worry.  

Mental health warning signs include feeling sad or hopeless most days, loss of interest in activities you used to enjoy, withdrawal from family and friends, changes in sleep patterns, increased anxiety or worry or difficulty concentrating or making decisions.

   

How to access preventive clinical supports  

During your My Aged Care assessment, discuss your health conditions, any concerns about falls, nutrition or mental health, and your goals for staying healthy and independent. The assessor will include appropriate preventive services in your support plan. Once you choose a provider, your care partner will arrange regular visits from clinical staff. Work with your clinical team to develop a prevention plan that keeps you healthy.  

Key things to remember  

There is no participant contribution for clinical supports – the government funds these services completely. Regular monitoring catches problems early when they’re easier to treat. You don’t need to wait for problems to get worse before asking for help.