Brisbane North PHN is inviting tenders from eligible organisations to deliver the care finder program to provide specialist and intensive assistance to help people to understand and access aged care and connect with other relevant supports in the community, commencing January to April 2023.

The care finder program was announced in the 2021-22 Budget as part of the Connecting Senior Australians to Aged Care Services measure and will be delivered through PHNs. Care finders will:
*provide specialist and intensive assistance to help people to understand and access aged care and connect with other relevant supports in the community
*specifically target people who have one or more reasons for requiring intensive support to interact with My Aged Care, access aged care services and/or access other relevant supports in the community.

Care finders will complement, and should not duplicate, the My Aged Care channels that provide access support to people who are able to proactively navigate the system for themselves.

Brisbane North PHN will establish and maintain a network of care finders across the region for this purpose.

The Brisbane North PHN's care finder program will seek to support all eligible individuals requiring intensive support. Based on our recent needs assessment, and noting that a separate program of Trusted Indigenous Facilitators will be funded by the Australian Government, our program will have specific focus on:
*People who identify with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) communities
*Forgotten Australians
*People experiencing homelessness or at risk of being homeless
*People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

All required documentation are attached to this tender notice.

An online sector briefing session will be held for anyone interested in tendering for this service. The session will provide:
*summary of the care finder model of service
*outline of tender process and relevant dates
*the opportunity to ask questions.

The online sector briefing is scheduled for Queensland time 3pm, Wednesday 12 October 2022.