Post-Acute Care

As the average length of stay in hospital is often shorter than it used to be, patients may be discharged from hospital and still require support during recovery. PAC includes the management and provision of short term planned care for patients with complex needs during their recovery from an episode of acute illness or injury.

Typical support may include:

• home help
• personal care
• shopping assistance
• nursing or allied health

Eligibility is determined on needs, and only for patients discharged from a public hospital. PAC provides additional (NOT substitute) health and community services to suit individual needs; the PAC period is determined on an individual basis.

As PAC is government funded, there is no cost for the additional support that may be required for the short period following discharge from hospital. However, it does not include the cost of services in place before admission to hospital, or provision of equipment and supplies (e.g. cleaning supplies, dressing materials, medications).