Do You need an Advocate?

If you are having difficulty accessing the support you need through My Aged Care, you might like to ask an advocate to help you. An advocate can assist you by:

• giving you information about your rights and responsibilities
• listening to your story
• Providing support to help you resolve problems with your service provider
• Speaking with your service provider on your behalf
• Referring you to another agency that may be in a better position to assist you

There are a range of options available to help you get the support you need, details of which have been provided below. Remember, you can access any of these services free of charge at any time.

Independent Advocate

If you are a person with disability who is having difficulty accessing the support you need through My Aged Care, our Independent Advocate, Martin Stewart may be of assistance. Martin is also collecting personal stories from people who would like to help us highlight the inequalities between the NDIS and My Aged Care – so if you have something you’d like to share, please feel free to get in touch.
Martin can be contacted by phone on 0425 725 171, or by email at nariwill@icloud.com

Disability Advocacy Service

Disability advocacy services operate in many geographic areas throughout Australia. Some services provide generalist advocacy support for anyone with disability, regardless of their particular condition or impairment. Others specialise in providing advocacy support to people with a certain type of condition or impairment, such as blindness, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury etc. You can use the NDAP (National Disability Advocacy Program) Provider Finder to locate the service that best meets your needs. The NADP Provider Finder can be accessed here: NADP Provider Finder

Aged Care Advocacy Service

You also have the option of accessing an Aged Care Advocacy Service. The National Aged Care Advocacy Line will be able to direct you to the most appropriate aged care advocacy service. You can contact the Advocacy line on 1800 700 600. Alternatively, you can find information about the different Aged Care Advocacy Services operating in each state and territory here: aged care advocacy service

Aged Care Complaints Commissioner

If you have a problem that you have not been able to resolve with your service provider, you can also lodge a complaint with the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner. Once your complaint has been accepted, the Commissioner may be able to investigate and help you to resolve the matter. You can contact the Office of the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner on 1800 550 552. Alternatively, you can find out how to lodge a complaint online here: raising a complaint