SA Community Care provides short-term post-acute care in the home for patients who are ready to be discharged from public hospitals and to prevent otherwise avoidable public hospital presentations and admissions.

Services are available to patients living in the Adelaide metropolitan area and are provided in the person’s home, including a residential aged care facility. Services commonly delivered through SA Community Care include:

  • wound care
  • medication administration
  • personal care / activities of daily living visits
  • end of life care
  • paediatric visits
  • continence visits
  • allied health.

SA Community Care is available at no charge to eligible public patients across metropolitan Adelaide.

Eligibility for SA Community Care includes:

  • a referral from a clinician – this can be a nurse, doctor or allied health professional
  • care needs to support public hospital avoidance or supported discharge for public patients
  • Medicare eligible
  • lives within metropolitan Adelaide
  • care requested is safe and appropriate to be delivered in the community
  • frequency and duration of care is within scope of the program, and
  • care is not being delivered by another service that can meet the care requested.

The Metropolitan Referral Unit (MRU) is the single point of contact for referrals to SA Community Care. Referral forms are accepted by email, fax or telephone. A clinician at the MRU will assess the patient’s eligibility for SA Community Care and confirm their admission or suggest more suitable alternative services.

For further information about the referral process visit the referral forms page.

The MRU accepts referrals from the following health care professionals:

  • acute and sub-acute public hospital and LHN community teams
  • general practitioners
  • residential care facilities
  • Specialist Palliative Care teams
  • South Australian Ambulance Service
  • SA Virtual Care Service
  • Priority Care Centres and Medicare Urgent Care Clinics

SA Community Care patients will be visited at home as often as their condition requires. The MRU will arrange home visits with the service provider based on the direction of the referring clinician.
A care plan will be developed for each patient based on the clinical handover from the referrer and the patient care needs. The care plan will be discussed with the patient and any loved ones or carers who are providing support.

Upon discharge from SA Community Care, the patient’s completion of care will be handed over to the original referrer and any ongoing service providers.

  • Provide a copy of the SA Community Care patient fact sheet (PDF 83KB)
  • the patient will be contacted by an SA Community Care Service provider to set up their first home visit
  • ensure that the patient is aware of the referral and to monitor their phone for contact, which may be from a private number or show up as ‘No Caller ID’.

Referral information