DVA community nursing pays for registered nurses, enrolled nurses and personal care workers to give you clinical and personal care in your own home. It can cover medication help, wound care, showering, dressing and palliative care. There's no cost to you if you have a Gold Card, or a White Card and need the care for an accepted condition, and a nurse assesses that you have a clinical need. You get it through a written referral from your GP or hospital to a DVA-contracted provider.
Who can get DVA community nursing
You may be eligible if you have an assessed clinical need for nursing or personal care at home and you hold either:
- a Veteran Card – All Conditions (Gold Card), which covers care for any condition
- a Veteran Card – Specific Conditions (White Card), where the care is needed because of a condition DVA has accepted as service related
If you have a White Card, the provider must check with DVA that you can get funded care before it starts.
What community nursing covers
A DVA-contracted provider assesses your needs, writes a nursing care plan with you, delivers the care and reassesses you over time. Care can include:
- help with medicines
- wound care and other clinical nursing
- showering and personal hygiene, dressing, continence care and toileting
- help moving or transferring, including with a hoist
- help to eat, where a nutritional assessment shows a clinical need
- palliative care, coordinated with your specialist palliative care team
Care is delivered face to face in your home. The provider must give you an emergency contact available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your GP keeps clinical oversight of your care.
What community nursing doesn't cover
The program supports people to stay independent at home with low-risk clinical care. It doesn't replace a full-time carer, respite, or Hospital in the Home, and people who need 24-hour care may be better supported in another setting. DVA won't pay for community nursing:
- in a residential aged care home, hospital, clinic, community centre or multi-purpose centre
- for welfare checks or companionship visits
- for household tasks such as cleaning, laundry, shopping, gardening, gutter cleaning or meal preparation
If you only need low-level personal care and have no other clinical need, the provider should refer you to Veterans' Home Care, which assesses you on 1300 550 450. For household tasks, see Veterans' Home Care or the aged care Support at Home program.
How to get community nursing
- Ask for a written referral from your GP, a treating doctor in hospital, a hospital discharge planner, or a nurse practitioner who works in community nursing. The referral should set out the care you need for your medical conditions.
- The referral can be on DVA's form D9389 Community Nursing Referral, the referrer's own letterhead, or the provider's referral form.
- The referral goes straight to a DVA-contracted community nursing provider, not to DVA. DVA publishes a panel of providers for each state and territory.
- A registered nurse from the provider visits you at home, confirms your eligibility, assesses your needs and gives you a copy of your written nursing care plan.
Referrals from a GP or nurse practitioner last 12 months. Referrals from a hospital last 6 weeks, after which you need a new referral from your GP. You also need a new referral if you've been out of care for more than 28 days or you want to change provider.
Find DVA's panel of community nursing providers
Changes in your care
A registered nurse reviews the amount and type of care regularly with you. Tell your provider if:
- you're going into hospital or have been in hospital
- the help you need changes
- you're moving into an aged care home, moving house or going on holiday
- you're unhappy with the service
A break of 28 days or less, such as a hospital stay, residential respite or a holiday, doesn't end your care. After more than 28 days away, or once you move permanently into an aged care home, the provider discharges you.
Community nursing and aged care services
You can get DVA community nursing and aged care services funded by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, such as Support at Home, at the same time, as long as the services don't overlap. The providers must work together on your care. Being a DVA client doesn't stop you getting Support at Home. To ask for an aged care assessment, contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422. DVA pays the Support at Home contribution for former prisoners of war and Victoria Cross recipients.
If you're asked to pay or have a complaint
Tell DVA if a provider says it doesn't accept Veteran Cards, or if you're asked to pay for community nursing. Don't pay the bill; contact DVA instead. If you raise a concern with your provider and it isn't resolved, call DVA on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372) or use DVA's online feedback form.
Read DVA's community nursing information
Common questions
Is there a cost for DVA community nursing?
No. If you're eligible, DVA pays for services from a DVA-contracted community nursing provider.
How do I find DVA community nursing services in Adelaide?
Use DVA's panel of community nursing providers. South Australia is listed in one file with the Northern Territory, and DVA also publishes a quick reference to service delivery areas by local government area. Your GP or discharge planner then sends the referral to the provider you choose.
Can I get community nursing in an aged care home?
No. A residential aged care home is outside the community nursing program. If you go into residential respite for 28 days or less, your community nursing can resume with the same provider when you get home.
Can a community nurse coordinate my care under CVC?
Yes, if your GP doesn't have a practice nurse. Your GP can refer you to a DVA-contracted community nursing provider to act as your care coordinator in the Coordinated Veterans' Care program.
Checked against DVA's website on 25 September 2026.