How BetterHands Supports Families
Living in Australia.
Finding a caregiver in Sri Lanka is the easy part. Living four thousand miles away and knowing the care is actually happening is the hard part. This page describes the support around the care — the named coordinator, the written update after every shift, and the number that answers at 3am in Melbourne.
A report after every shift
Not only when something goes wrong
Start here
What Support Actually Means When You Live in Australia.
Every provider will tell you they support overseas families. Very few will tell you what that involves on a Tuesday. So here is the specific version.
When you live in Melbourne and your mother lives in Nugegoda, the problem is not really the care. Sri Lanka has capable, warm, experienced caregivers, and plenty of them. The problem is information. You cannot see the house. You cannot read your mother’s face. Therefore you are relying entirely on what somebody chooses to tell you, and on your parents, who will minimise everything to avoid worrying you.
That is the gap BetterHands is built to close. The caregiving is one half of what you are paying for. The other half is a reporting structure that reaches Australia whether or not anything interesting happened, because the boring reports are the ones that let you notice change.
Four things move off your plate as a result. You stop chasing updates. You stop being the person who solves a staffing problem from another time zone. You stop asking a sibling or a cousin in Colombo to supervise. And you stop guessing whether the money you send is reaching the person doing the work.
Your First Fourteen Days from Australia.
Roughly two weeks from first call to first shift. Nothing here requires you to be in Sri Lanka.
Your first call
Booked into your evening, which is a working afternoon in Colombo. We ask what has changed recently rather than what services you want. Most families arrive after a fall, a discharge or a phone call that did not sound right.
The assessment visit
An assessor visits your parents at home. They look at mobility, medication, the kitchen, the bathroom and who is nearby. It is free, and it happens whether or not you go ahead.
The written care plan
You receive the assessment in writing, in Australia, before you spend anything. It says what your parents need, what they do not, and where our view differs from what you expected.
The caregiver match
We shortlist from our employed staff on language, experience and temperament. You get a profile for the person proposed. You can say no, and families reasonably do.
The introduction
The caregiver meets your parents with the coordinator present, before any shift begins. This matters more than it sounds. A stranger arriving alone on day one is how placements fail.
First shift and first report
Care starts, and the first written update reaches you that evening. From here the rhythm below takes over and does not stop while the placement runs.
Two weeks frustrates some families, particularly after a hospital discharge. However, the alternative is a stranger placed without an assessment, and that is the single most reliable way to end up replacing somebody in month one. If the need is genuinely urgent, say so on the first call and the assessment is brought forward.
The Reporting Rhythm Australian Families Rely On.
Four cadences, running at once. The point of the boring ones is that they make the important ones legible.
After every shift
A short written update: what was done, how your parent seemed, what they ate, whether medication was taken. Two minutes to read. It arrives whether or not anything happened.
Every week
A photo or a short video, and a note from the coordinator rather than the caregiver. A second pair of eyes on the same household catches what daily familiarity misses.
Every month
A summary that compares this month against last: appetite, mobility, mood, sleep. Decline is gradual, and gradual is invisible in daily notes.
Whenever it matters
A fall, a missed dose, a refusal to eat, a GP visit. You hear within the hour, not at the end of the week, and not softened.
Families frequently ask to reduce this. After a month or two the daily note starts to feel like noise, because ninety-five per cent of the time nothing has changed. We keep sending it anyway, and we would encourage you to keep skimming it.
The reason is that decline is only visible in the aggregate. No single note says your father is deteriorating. Six weeks of notes, read together, show that he stopped walking to the gate, then stopped finishing lunch, then started sleeping in the afternoon. That pattern is the thing worth paying for, and it does not exist if the reports only arrive when something is already wrong.
Who You Actually Speak To in Sri Lanka.
Four levels, in order. Knowing the ladder in advance is most of the value of having one.
Your coordinator
A named person, not a queue. They know your parents, they wrote the plan, and they are who you email first. Reachable in Sri Lankan working hours, which is your evening.
The 24-hour line
Staffed overnight in Sri Lanka for anything clinical or urgent. It is the number to use at 3am in Sydney, and it does not route to voicemail.
The nursing team
PHSRC-registered nurses handle anything above caregiver scope — wounds, injections, catheters, deterioration. They escalate to your parents’ own doctor when it is warranted.
Management
If the coordinator has not resolved something to your satisfaction, you go above them by name. Families rarely need this. It exists so the route is not a mystery when they do.
The time difference is smaller than families expect. Colombo sits four and a half hours behind Sydney and Melbourne, three and a half behind Brisbane in summer, and two and a half behind Perth. As a result, calling after dinner in Australia reaches a Sri Lankan office in the middle of its working afternoon. Nobody is being woken up.
That is the ordinary case. For the other case — a fall at midnight, a fever that will not come down — the 24-hour line exists precisely because those calls do not arrive at convenient hours.
When Something Goes Wrong and It Will.
Six situations that come up regularly, and what happens in each without you having to organise it.
The caregiver falls ill
We cover the shift from our own staff. You are told it happened and who came instead. Continuity is disrupted for a day, not for a week, and never at your cost.
The match is wrong
It happens, and judging temperament from Australia is genuinely hard. Replacements are unlimited and free. Say so early — families tend to wait far too long out of politeness.
Your parent refuses care
Common in week two, once relief has worn off and independence feels threatened. The coordinator visits and renegotiates. Withdrawing the caregiver is sometimes the right answer.
A hospital admission
Billing pauses the day it happens. We can place a bystander on the ward instead, and the same caregiver resumes at home on discharge wherever the roster allows.
Needs outgrow the plan
A caregiver placement becomes a nursing one when the clinical bar is crossed. We tell you when that line is reached rather than quietly carrying on under-qualified.
You want to stop
No lock-in on the daily rate. Give notice and it ends. The membership is annual and non-refundable, which we say plainly rather than burying in terms.
None of these are unusual. Care arrangements are relationships between real people in a real house, and they wobble. What separates providers is whether the wobble becomes your problem at 6am Australian time, or somebody else’s problem that you are simply told about afterwards.
Paying for Home Care in Sri Lanka from Australia.
Money is where informal arrangements go wrong most often, and it is rarely because anyone is dishonest. It is because cash moving through a cousin leaves no record for anybody, and puts that cousin in an unfair position.
Payment goes by international transfer to the BetterHands company account, in Sri Lankan rupees. Therefore the caregiver is paid by us, on a payroll, on a date they can count on — not by whoever happened to visit that week.
A note on currency: the daily rate is set in rupees, so the Australian dollar figure moves with the exchange rate. We do not adjust the rupee rate to chase that, in either direction.
What you get for every payment
- An itemised invoice, issued before payment is due
- A receipt against the BetterHands company account
- A monthly statement covering every shift billed
- Advance notice in writing of any rate change
- No district loading — Jaffna costs what Colombo costs
- No cash handled by the caregiver or by a relative
What BetterHands Does Not Do.
Worth stating plainly, because families living overseas often arrive hoping one provider can absorb everything happening at home. We cannot, and pretending otherwise wastes your time.
- Residential or nursing-home placement — we are home care only
- Dementia-specialist units or secure facilities
- Hospital-level clinical supervision or ventilator care
- Property management, legal or financial affairs for your parents
- Visa, immigration or repatriation assistance
- Emergency ambulance response — that is 1990 Suwa Seriya
Where something falls outside what we do, the coordinator will say so and point you somewhere useful if we know of one. That is a shorter conversation than discovering the limit three weeks into a placement.
Straight answers
Three Things Australian Families Ask First.
How often will I actually hear from you?
After every single shift, in writing. Then a photo and a coordinator note weekly, and a comparison summary monthly. Updates arrive when nothing has happened as well as when something has, because that is the only way a gradual change becomes visible from Australia.
Who do I call if something happens overnight?
The 24-hour line, which is staffed in Sri Lanka through the night. Your named coordinator handles everything in ordinary hours, which fall in your evening. You are never asked to work out who is responsible for what while something is going wrong.
Do I need a relative in Sri Lanka to supervise?
No, and that is the main reason families come to us rather than hiring privately. Supervision, payroll, cover and reporting are ours. If you do have family nearby, they are welcome to be involved, but nothing depends on their availability.
Where the care actually happens
Coordinated from Colombo, delivered island-wide.
The coordination team works from our office in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, on the Narahenpita–Nawala road just outside Colombo. Placements run island-wide — Nugegoda and Dehiwala, out to Kandy, Galle, Negombo and Jaffna.
Families discharged from the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Lanka Hospitals or Nawaloka are transitioned home directly. Because there is no district loading, a placement two hours from the capital is billed at the same daily rate as one in Colombo 7.
BetterHands (Pvt) Ltd
200 Narahenpita - Nawala Rd, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte 11222, Sri Lanka
+94 74 21 21 744Published, not quoted
Membership first, then simple daily rates.
One annual membership covers coordination, payroll and unlimited caregiver replacements — the support described on this page. After that you pay a flat daily rate for the level of care your parents need, charged in Sri Lankan rupees with no district supplements.
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 and live-in support — no shift premiums, no travel supplements for any district. Hospital bystander cover is priced by shift length instead — see that service page for its packages. A free care assessment is provided before any commitment.
A one-way transfer for the caregiver is arranged at the start of placement.
Families we look after
Trusted with the people who raised us.
“Our mother lives alone in Wellawatte while we work overseas. Her BetterHands companion visits daily and calls us every week. For the first time in years, we are not constantly worried.”
Nimal & Kumari J.
Wellawatte, Colombo 06
“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
“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
Questions About Support for Families in Australia.
One coordinator owns your placement and writes to you after every shift. You receive the caregiver profile before anyone starts, a written care plan after the assessment, and a monthly summary that tracks changes over time. Between those, you contact the coordinator directly rather than a general enquiry line.
Colombo runs four to five and a half hours behind the eastern states, so an Australian evening is a Sri Lankan afternoon. Scheduled calls are booked into that window. Urgent matters go to the 24-hour line, which is staffed overnight in Sri Lanka regardless of the hour in Melbourne.
BetterHands is. Caregivers are employed and payrolled by us rather than introduced to you, so cover is our problem to solve, not yours. The coordinator arranges a replacement and tells you it happened. You are not expected to ring anyone in Sri Lanka to chase it.
No. The assessment, the caregiver match, the approval and the payment all run remotely. A BetterHands assessor visits your parents in person and writes up what they found. You read it in Australia, ask questions, and approve before anyone is placed.
By international transfer to the BetterHands company account in Sri Lankan rupees. You receive an itemised invoice and a receipt for every payment. No money is handed to the caregiver, and no relative in Sri Lanka is asked to hold or forward cash on your behalf.
Tell the coordinator and the placement pauses rather than continuing to bill. If you want a caregiver to stay with them on the ward, that becomes a hospital bystander placement instead. When they are discharged, the same caregiver resumes at home wherever possible.
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 care is the easy part. Knowing about it is not.
You can find a caregiver in Sri Lanka in an afternoon. What is genuinely hard from Australia is knowing, on an ordinary Wednesday, that somebody turned up, that your mother ate, and that nothing is quietly getting worse.
Everything on this page exists to answer that question without you having to ask it. A named coordinator, a report after every shift, a ladder you can climb when the first answer is not good enough, and a payment trail that does not run through a relative.
Start with the free assessment. It costs nothing, it happens whether or not you proceed, and it gives you a written account of how your parents are actually managing — which is worth having even if you decide to arrange something else entirely.
See how the support works
before you commit to it.
A 15-minute call, timed for your evening in Australia. We will walk you through the reporting, introduce the coordinator who would own your placement, and book the free assessment — no obligation either way.
1,000+
Caregiver profiles
96%
First-match success
Trained
Caregiver training
72
Hours to placement