Eastern Melbourne PHN (EMPHN) is pleased to announce the appointment of a new network of care finders in the east and north-east of Melbourne. The following organisations have been successfully appointed as new service providers for their respective Local Government Areas (LGAs):
• Care Connect for Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Monash, and Yarra Ranges
• healthAbility for Banyule, Boroondara, Nillumbik, Whitehorse and Murrundindi
• DPV Health for Whittlesea and Mitchell
• Migrant Information Centre for Manningham, Monash, and Whitehorse (focussing on the culturally and linguistically diverse community)
Providers who previously delivered the Assistance with Care and Housing program will also transition to be care finders, predominantly with a focus on homelessness and people at risk of homelessness:
• Villa Maria Catholic Homes for Knox and Whitehorse
• The Salvation Army for Boroondara, Manningham, Monash, and Whitehorse
• Merri Outreach Support Service for Banyule, Nillumbik, and Whittlesea
• Wintringham for Banyule, Knox, Maroondah, Monash, Nillumbik, Whitehorse, and Whittlesea
• Housing for the Aged Action Group providing intake services across the EMPHN catchment
Services will be scaling up over the coming months with full service from April 2023. The care finder program is an initiative of the Australian Government in response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. The program was announced in the 2021-22 Budget as part of the Connecting Senior Australians to Aged Care Services measure.
EMPHN is responsible for establishing and maintaining a network of care finder service providers to help members of our community who would otherwise struggle to navigate the Aged Care system and other community supports.
The service providers will provide specialist and intensive navigation support to integrate with the health, aged care, and other systems at the local level.
For more information, visit our Care Finders page.