Complete Guide to Hiring a Caregiver in Sri Lanka
from Australia.
Everything involved in arranging care for ageing parents in Sri Lanka while you live in Australia — what the options really cost, what to verify before you commit, and the mistakes almost every family makes first. Written to be useful whether or not you end up using BetterHands.
Two to three weeks
From first call to placement
If you only read one section
The short version of hiring a caregiver in Sri Lanka.
- Get a written assessment first. Anyone quoting without seeing your parents is guessing.
- Start with fewer hours than you think you need. Acceptance matters more than coverage.
- Use an agency that employs the caregiver, not an introduction service.
- Verify PHSRC registration for anything clinical. It is checkable.
- Agree the escalation plan before you need it, and name a second contact.
- Expect two to three weeks from first call to somebody starting.
Step by step
How to Hire a Caregiver in Sri Lanka from Australia.
Work out what your parents actually need
Not what you fear they need. Companionship, help with washing and meals, and clinical nursing are three different jobs at three different prices. Most families over-estimate at this stage, which makes the arrangement harder for a parent to accept and more expensive than it needs to be.
Write down what specifically worries you — falls, medication, meals, loneliness. That list is what an assessment should answer.
Decide between a private hire and an agency
A private hire is cheaper per day. An agency employs and payrolls the caregiver, replaces them when it goes wrong, and is accountable to you in writing. From ten thousand kilometres away, the second matters considerably more than the first.
Ask yourself who solves the problem at 6am Colombo time when nobody turns up. If the answer is you, that is a private hire.
Get a written assessment before agreeing anything
Somebody should visit the house, look at the stairs and the bathroom, read the medication list, and write down what they found. A provider who quotes without seeing your parents is guessing, and you are in no position to check the guess.
The assessment should be free. If it is not, ask why.
Check the credentials that actually matter
For clinical care, PHSRC registration is the baseline and it is verifiable. For everything else, ask what reference checks were done, who employs the caregiver, and what happens if they are unwell. Get the answers in writing rather than on a call.
A provider unwilling to put credentials in writing is telling you something useful.
Start smaller than you think you need to
Two or three visits a week, framed as company rather than care, is accepted far more readily than full-time help arriving at once. It also gives everyone a low-cost way to find out whether the match works before anybody commits.
Hours can extend later without changing caregiver. Changing caregiver later is the disruptive part.
Agree the escalation plan while nothing is wrong
Who does the caregiver ring first if they cannot reach you? Which hospital? What are they authorised to decide alone? Ten minutes on this at the start prevents a caregiver improvising at 2am about a family they met a fortnight ago.
Name a second contact. From Australia you will be asleep for part of the Sri Lankan day.
Private Hire or Agency: the Honest Comparison.
Both are legitimate. They fail in different ways, and one of those failures is much harder to manage from overseas.
Hiring privately
- Cheaper per day, sometimes considerably
- You verify references, or nobody does
- You are the employer, with the obligations that carries
- No cover when they are ill or leave
- No written record unless you build one
- Every problem escalates to you, in your night
Using an agency
- Higher daily rate, plus a membership or registration fee
- Vetting and reference checks done before placement
- The agency employs and payrolls the caregiver
- Replacement is their problem to solve, not yours
- Written reporting as standard
- One accountable contact rather than an individual
We are an agency, so treat the framing accordingly. The genuine argument for a private hire is cost, and for a family with a trusted relative nearby who can supervise, it can work perfectly well.
The argument against it has nothing to do with the caregiver and everything to do with distance. When an informal arrangement fails, it fails silently, and you find out days later from Australia. That is the risk you are actually paying an agency to absorb.
Six Mistakes Australian Families Make First.
Waiting for a crisis
Most families act after a fall or an admission. Care arranged before that point is cheaper, better accepted, and frequently prevents the event that would have triggered it.
Hiring on price alone
The cheapest daily rate usually means no employment relationship, no vetting and no replacement. That is not a saving, it is risk transferred to you.
Over-providing at the start
Full-time care arriving on day one is the most common reason a parent refuses outright. Acceptance follows familiarity, not scale.
Relying on a relative indefinitely
A cousin checking in is a favour, not an arrangement. It has no backup, no accountability, and it quietly expires without anybody announcing it.
Not asking who employs the caregiver
If nobody employs them, nobody is responsible for them. Ask the question directly and get the answer in writing.
Assuming home-country cover applies
My Aged Care, Medicare and the NHS all stop at their own borders. Care in Sri Lanka is a private arrangement in almost every case.
Questions to Ask Any Provider in Sri Lanka.
Ask these of us too. A provider who cannot answer them plainly and in writing is not one to use from overseas.
Who employs the caregiver — you, or me?
What reference checks were completed, and can I see them?
Is the nurse PHSRC-registered, and what is the number?
What exactly happens if they do not turn up?
How many replacements am I entitled to, and at what cost?
What is written down after each shift, and who receives it?
Is there a travel supplement for my parents’ district?
What is the notice period if we need to stop?
Who do you call first in an emergency?
Is the assessment free, and is it written?
How Long the Whole Thing Actually Takes.
Day 1
First call or message
Fifteen minutes, no obligation, scheduled for your evening.
Days 2–5
Assessment at the house
Somebody visits your parents, then writes it up and sends it to you.
Days 5–14
Matching and approval
You review the caregiver profile before anyone starts work.
By day 14
Placement begins
Guaranteed, or we escalate. Updates start from the first shift.
Urgent cases move faster. A hospital discharge in Colombo is usually covered within a day or two, because the alternative is your parent going home to an empty house.
What slows things down is almost never us. It is the conversation with your parents, and the sibling who is not sure yet. Budget more time for that than for the logistics.
The part that actually stalls families
Having the Conversation with Your Parents.
Every practical step above is easier than this one. It is also where most families lose six months.
The refusal is almost never about the caregiver. A parent who has run their own household for fifty years does not experience help as help — they experience it as evidence that they are failing, and as a bill their child is now paying because of them.
Three things make it go better. Frame it as company rather than care, because somebody to talk to is far easier to accept than somebody to wash you. Start with two or three days rather than every day. And where you can, be in the house when the caregiver first arrives, so they meet a guest of yours rather than a stranger sent from an agency.
It also helps to be honest about whose problem you are solving. Plenty of Australian familiesarrange care partly so they can sleep, and there is nothing wrong with saying so. “I worry about you and it would help me” lands very differently from “you cannot manage on your own any more”.
Siblings are the other stall. Three people who visited in three different years hold three different pictures of the same parent, and the argument rarely resolves by discussion. A written assessment usually settles it in a way another phone call will not, because it replaces memory with something somebody wrote down last week.
If your parents say no outright, that is not the end of it. A surprising number agree within a few months, usually after something small goes wrong. Booking the assessment early costs nothing and means you are not starting from scratch when they change their mind.
What it costs
Membership first, then simple daily rates.
Published rates rather than a quote after a consultation. One annual membership covers coordination, payroll and unlimited caregiver replacements, then a flat daily rate for the level of care your parents need.
BetterHands Annual Membership
LKR 20,000
One-time annual registration fee
- Unlimited caregiver replacements at no additional cost if you are not satisfied
- Payroll management and caregiver administration
- Ongoing coordination and support from the BetterHands team
- Access to all services covered under the BetterHands membership
Step two — daily service rates
Duties below are what each role normally provides — your care plan is tailored during the free assessment.
Caregiver
Daily living support and companionship
LKR 4,500/day
Most families start here — a parent who is managing, but should not be alone all day.
- Friendly conversation and companionship
- Bathing and personal care assistance (if required)
- Medication reminders and general supervision
- Simple meals and refreshments
- Short walks and light activities (if appropriate)
- Day-to-day assistance and emotional support
Nursing Assistant
Personal care plus basic clinical support
LKR 6,000/day
Common where diabetes, blood pressure or early-stage dementia needs daily monitoring.
- Everything in the caregiver role
- Vital signs monitoring (BP, blood sugar, SpO₂)
- Medication reminders and administration support
- Basic wound and continence care
Professional Nurse
Complex medical and post-operative needs
LKR 9,000/day
Usually after a hospital discharge, a stroke, or where wounds and IV care are involved.
- Everything in the nursing assistant role
- PHSRC-registered clinical nursing
- Wound care, injections, and IV therapy
- Catheter, NG tube, and post-operative care
Daily rates are charged in addition to the one-time annual registration fee of LKR 20,000. The same daily rates apply to day care, night care, live-in, and hospital bystander support — no shift premiums, no travel supplements for any district. A free care assessment is provided before any commitment.
A one-way transfer for the caregiver is arranged at the start of placement.
Keep reading
Where to Go from Here.
If you are in a particular city, those pages cover the local detail — calling windows, community, and what families there ask most.
Families we look after
Trusted with the people who raised us.
“BetterHands transformed my mother's quality of life. The caregivers are professional, compassionate, and treat her with so much dignity. Our whole family is relieved and grateful.”
Chamari W.
Colombo 07
“After my father's heart surgery at Lanka Hospitals, the nursing team from BetterHands provided exceptional post-operative care at home. They were thorough, kind, and always on time.”
Roshan & Dilini P.
Nugegoda
“My grandfather was very lonely after being discharged from hospital. His BetterHands companion has become a true friend — he is happier and more engaged than he's been in years.”
Priya N.
Kandy
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring a Caregiver in Sri Lanka.
Allow two to three weeks end to end. The assessment is usually arranged within days of your first call, and placement is guaranteed within 14 days of that assessment being completed. Hospital discharges and other urgent cases are escalated immediately.
A private hire is cheaper per day and carries every risk yourself — no vetting, no payroll, no cover when they do not turn up, and no recourse. An agency costs more and takes on the employment, the replacement and the accountability. From overseas, that difference matters more than the daily rate.
Expect a membership or registration fee plus a daily rate that varies by staff level. Rates are published further down this page. Be wary of any provider who will not quote until after a consultation, or who charges travel supplements by district.
For clinical work, ask for PHSRC registration and verify it. For non-clinical care, ask what reference checks were completed and who employs the caregiver. A provider who cannot answer either question in writing is not one you should be using from overseas.
This is the most common obstacle and it is rarely about the care itself. Most parents are resisting the idea of becoming a burden. Starting with a few hours of companion care rather than clinical support works far better than arriving with a full-time arrangement.
Yes. Assessment, matching, approval and payment can all be handled remotely. Your parents meet the caregiver in person while you review the profile from Australia. Setting it up during a visit helps with acceptance, but nothing requires it.
BetterHands nurses are registered with Sri Lanka's Private Health Services Regulatory Council. Australian aged care entitlements should be confirmed with Services Australia, as individual circumstances vary.
Check it yourself
Sources and further reading for Australian families.
Entitlements and health guidance change. These are the official sources — go to them rather than taking our word for it.
The hardest part is not the hiring.
Almost every family that contacts us has already decided something needs to change. What they are stuck on is the conversation with their parents, or the sibling who thinks it is premature.
A written assessment tends to settle both. It replaces three competing memories of three different visits with one account of what somebody actually saw in the house last week.
It costs nothing and commits you to nothing. If it tells you your parents are managing better than you feared, that is a useful answer too.
Start with the assessment.
Decide afterwards.
A 15-minute call, timed for your evening. We will tell you honestly what your parents need — even if that turns out to be less than you expected.
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Caregiver profiles
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