How to choose an aged care home, step by step

1. Get the aged care needs assessment

   An aged care home can only offer a permanent room once the government's aged care needs assessment (still often called ACAT) has approved residential care. Request it through My Aged Care (the Australian Government's aged care service, 1800 200 422) online or by phone. It is free. If the person is in hospital, the hospital usually arranges it.

   You can start looking at homes while you wait. Just don't expect a home to confirm a room until the approval arrives. The outcome letter includes referral codes you give to the home you choose. See the aged care assessment, explained.

   Source: My Aged Care: assessment outcome for an aged care home

2. Agree who decides

   The person moving in has the right to make decisions about their own life, with support if they need it, and to have those decisions respected. That right is set out in the Statement of Rights in the Aged Care Act 2024. Adults are presumed to be able to make their own decisions unless shown otherwise, and capacity can differ from one decision to the next.

   If the person cannot make this decision, someone with legal authority makes it: in Victoria, an attorney appointed for personal matters under an enduring power of attorney, or a guardian appointed by VCAT. Being next of kin does not, by itself, give anyone that authority. If nobody holds it, talk to the hospital social worker or the Office of the Public Advocate before anything is signed.

   It helps to agree early, as a family, who is doing what: who rings homes, who tours, who handles the paperwork. See who decides when a parent can't.

   Source: Victorian Department of Health: decision making for older people

3. Write down what matters

   Before you look at a single home, agree on a short list of must-haves and nice-to-haves with the person moving in. It keeps every later conversation focused.

   • Care needs: memory support or a secure area, nursing for complex health conditions, palliative care, help with mobility or swallowing.
   • Location: who will visit, how often, and how they will get there.
   • Culture, language and faith: staff who speak the person's language, food, religious practice, community.
   • The room: single or shared, own bathroom, a garden outlook, space for a favourite chair.
   • People: a partner who wants to move in too, a pet, friends already living somewhere.
   • Budget: what the room prices in the area are, and roughly what the fees will be. See what aged care costs.

4. Start the means assessment early

   What a person pays on top of the room and the basic daily fee depends on Services Australia's assessment of their income and assets. Without it, a home can ask for the maximum fees until the caps are reached.

   • People who don't get an income support payment from Services Australia or the Department of Veterans' Affairs apply online or with form SA457.
   • People who get a relevant income support payment and own their home tell Services Australia about the home (online, or with form SA485). If they don't own a home, they usually don't need to apply, but should make sure their details are up to date.

   Services Australia's Aged Care line is 1800 227 475 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm). See the means test, step by step.

   Source: Services Australia: who should apply for an aged care calculation of your cost of care

5. Build a shortlist

   My Aged Care's Find a provider tool lists every government-funded aged care home. Search the area, filter for the care you need, and shortlist up to 16 homes. For each home, note:

   • its overall Star Rating and all four sub-ratings, with the month they were published (see star ratings explained);
   • its published room prices, which each home sets;
   • the specialised care it lists;
   • anything worrying in its latest audit report from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

   Our city pages list the homes in our data sorted by government Star Rating, starting with aged care homes in Melbourne. Hospital social workers and GPs often know local homes well, too.

   Source: My Aged Care: how to choose a provider

6. Ring the homes

   A short phone call saves wasted tours. Ask each home:

   • Is a room that suits likely to be free soon? How long do people usually wait for this kind of room?
   • Can you meet these care needs (be specific)?
   • What are the published prices for the rooms that would suit?
   • Do you offer respite, in case a short stay helps while we wait?
   • When can we visit, ideally around lunchtime?

   Expect most homes to be close to full: metropolitan homes ran at 96.1% occupancy of their available beds in the March 2026 quarter (StewartBrown survey). Keep several homes in play rather than waiting on one.

   Source: StewartBrown Aged Care Financial Performance Survey, March 2026 (year to date)

7. Tour two or three homes

   Visit at a mealtime if you can, and take the person who will live there if they are able. Look before you ask: how staff speak to residents, the smell, the noise, and whether people are up and doing things. Then work through the questions on staffing, care minutes, food, dementia care, fees and family life.

   Our aged care tour checklist has every question grouped and printable, including questions to ask about each weak Star Rating sub-rating.

8. Compare, decide, and read before you sign

   Compare the homes on the same few things while they are fresh: ratings, how staff treated residents, food, the room, the price, and travel time for the people who will visit. Then talk it through with the person moving in. Their view comes first.

   When a home offers a room, ask for the resident agreement and the accommodation agreement to read before anything is signed. Things to know:

   • The agreed room price can't be more than the price the home publishes.
   • A home can't ask you to choose how to pay for the room (a lump sum, a daily payment or a mix) before moving in. For people entering care from 1 November 2025, the room is charged as a daily payment until any lump sum is paid, and a lump sum can be paid any time after entry once the means assessment is finalised.
   • Higher everyday living fees (optional extra services) are optional: they can't be a condition of entry, can't be agreed before you move in, and have a cooling-off period.
   • A home can charge a pre-entry fee to hold a room for up to 7 days before the person moves in.

   For decisions about how to pay, talk to a licensed financial adviser or Services Australia's Financial Information Service (132 300), and consider asking a lawyer to read the agreements. See RAD or DAP for how the payment options work.

   Sources: My Aged Care: understanding aged care home accommodation costs; My Aged Care: short-term care costs and fees

9. Move in, and the first weeks

   Label clothes, choose a few familiar things from home, and plan to be there on the first day if you can. Ask who the key contact is, and when the care plan will be written and reviewed with you.

   The first weeks are often the hardest. Visit regularly, write down questions as they come up, and raise concerns early with the home. If something is not resolved, see how to make an aged care complaint.

If a hospital wants a discharge date

The steps are the same, but compressed. The hospital usually arranges the assessment quickly: the Victorian median for hospital assessments was 1 day in January to March 2026. Ask the social worker or discharge planner about transition care (up to 12 weeks of short-term care after a hospital stay, extendable by up to 6) and residential respite as a bridge while you find the right permanent home. See hospital discharge and urgent help.

Sources: My Aged Care: transition care; Victorian Department of Health: My Aged Care assessment services

Red flags along the way

• Pressure to sign or pay on the day of a tour.
• A home that won't give you the agreements to read before you decide.
• Optional extra fees presented as a condition of getting a room.
• A request to choose how to pay for the room before moving in.
• Vague answers about staffing, care minutes or the latest audit.
• Anyone other than the person, or someone with legal authority for them, making the decision.