Medical Aids Subsidy Scheme (MASS): The Queensland Continence Aids Guide
By Kim Hando
, Owner & Founder
│ 02 September 2026
Last reviewed: 01 September 2026
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Last reviewed: 1 September 2026
Queenslanders ring us about continence products and end up asking about a state scheme someone mentioned in passing, with no idea whether it applies to them. That scheme is usually the Medical Aids Subsidy Scheme, and it stays confusing because it doesn't work like the federal payment most people have already read about. A health professional lodges the first application, and no money lands in your bank account. Our complete guide to NDIS continence funding covers the national schemes; this is the Queensland piece, for people managing continence at home and the carers doing it with them.
The short version: MASS is a Queensland Health subsidy that supplies continence products to eligible Queensland residents, in six-monthly supply periods. An approved prescriber lodges the first application and the three-yearly review. Every six-monthly period after that has to be reapplied for, and where the type of aid hasn't changed and your three-yearly review isn't due, that reapplication is a phone call you or a carer can make. The products arrive rather than the money.
What the Medical Aids Subsidy Scheme is
The Medical Aids Subsidy Scheme is a Queensland Health program that subsidises continence aids and other medical aids for eligible Queensland residents. It is a supply scheme, not a cash payment. An approved prescriber assesses the person, lodges the first application, and MASS then arranges products through its own contracted suppliers on a set cycle.
That distinction is where the confusion starts. People go looking for a form to fill in themselves and can't find one, because the first application form belongs to the prescriber. What MASS needs from you is proof of your concession card, in one of three published ways: a copy of both sides of the card, signed consent on the MASS 84 Proxy Access to Centrelink Information Form so MASS can check your card status with Centrelink, or, on a MASS-eApply application, consent to a live Centrelink check.
Who is eligible for MASS continence aids
Three things have to line up: permanent Queensland residency, an eligible card in the person's own name, and a permanent and stabilised condition that impairs their ability to function independently in their home environment. That third limb is easy to miss: clinical eligibility is determined by the MASS Clinical Advisor, on the information the prescriber provides.
The accepted cards are a Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card, a Centrelink Health Care Card, a Centrelink Confirmation Concession Card Entitlement Form (not the partial version issued for travel concessions), a Department of Veterans' Affairs pensioner Concession Card, or a Queensland Government Seniors Card. Two traps sit in that list: a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card is not eligible for MASS services, and a DVA Gold Card, which DVA also calls the Veteran Card (All Conditions), is excluded from the DVA card route. Without an eligible card, MASS generally won't cover continence aids. That is a blunt thing to read when you have just worked out that these products are a permanent household cost, and it isn't the end of the road: CAPS and the NDIS sit outside the Queensland card rules entirely.
The word "stabilised" does real work there. MASS defines it as a diagnosis known to need continence aids for the long term, confirmed after treatable conditions have been assessed and managed. A condition still being investigated may not meet that test yet, which is a question for the prescriber, not one to judge for yourself.
MASS covers eligible children as well as adults, though children under five are not eligible for continence pads or nappies. Beyond that, paediatric supply is a conversation for the child's own prescriber.
If you're eligible for assistive technology assistance or funding under the NDIS, MASS won't subsidise your continence aids. Continence products and supports may be funded through the NDIS instead, where the incontinence is directly related to your disability. Read what the NDIS covers and how to access it and speak to your plan manager.
What MASS covers, and how often
On the absorbent side, the continence aids Queensland residents can get through MASS are disposable pads, nappies, pull-on style pads and slips (the scheme's own term for a slip is an all-in-one pad, so that is what you will see on the form), reusable bed pads, chair pads and pants, and stretch pants, which are supplied only with non-adhesive shaped pads.
The published list of what MASS does not subsidise runs to disposable liners or booster pads, miscellaneous items used for catheter or bowel management, treatment or evacuation, products for a catheter change including the catheter pack and lubricant, disposable gloves, and urinals. A booster used to extend wear time stays a private purchase.
MASS also covers products in a different regulatory category: indwelling and disposable catheters, catheter valves, latex and non-latex sheaths, and leg and night drainage bags. Those are coverage facts only. Catheter selection, sizing and use is a matter for the prescribing clinician, and nothing here is product guidance.
Supply runs on a cycle rather than on demand. The MASS Application Guidelines for Continence Aids (version 2.1, May 2024) set a subsidised supply in six-monthly periods, with indwelling catheters and reusable bed and chair pads supplied twelve-monthly. Separately, the client has to be clinically reviewed and approved every three years to keep their eligibility, and a review application is needed then or whenever the type of aid changes.
MASS publishes subsidy levels for disposable pads by age, and they step up with the number of pads a person actually uses each day. For a child of 5 to 15, MASS subsidises up to 2.25 pads a day where 1 to 2 are needed, up to 3.25 where 3 are needed, and up to 4.5 where 4 or more are needed. For an adult of 16 or older it is up to 1.25 a day where 1 to 2 are needed, and up to 2.5 where 3 or more are needed. Those are daily rates used to work out a six-monthly supply rather than a daily allowance, the same levels cover pull-on and all-in-one pads, and MASS calculates the level from the clinical need the prescriber justifies. MASS states plainly that the subsidy is not intended to cover all continence needs. Catheters can be supplied to a child from birth.
Dollar subsidy limits apply on top of those quantities, and they change, so we don't publish those figures here. Queensland Health holds the current scheme details, forms and subsidy levels. One thing worth knowing before you go looking: continence aids don't carry a published co-payment the way some other MASS categories do, so there's no continence co-payment figure to hunt for.
A subsidised quantity is a quantity, not a guarantee it covers the supply period. Queensland Health tells prescribers as much, and directs them to point applicants toward private purchase for the rest. Plenty of Queenslanders top up their supply themselves, particularly overnight, where a heavier absorbency can make the difference between a full night's sleep and a 3am change.
How MASS fits with CAPS, the NDIS and other funding
Queensland continence funding sits alongside the national schemes rather than replacing them, and which ones can run together depends on the scheme, not the product.
MASS and the Continence Aids Payment Scheme are separate schemes with separate rules, and neither one's published exclusion list names the other. That isn't a guarantee you can hold both, so check with both before you assume. The CAPS exclusion list names NDIS consumables and the Department of Veterans' Affairs Rehabilitation Appliances Program, and it doesn't name state schemes.
The Commonwealth CAPS application guidelines do ask anyone already receiving continence assistance through a state or territory scheme to contact that scheme manager and check whether their CAPS eligibility affects it. In Queensland the scheme manager is MASS, not your supplier. Services Australia publishes the current CAPS rules. Get the answer from the two agencies, not from a forum.
MASS steps aside wherever another program is already responsible, and the limb covering other State and Commonwealth government funded programs is published as "including, but not limited to", so that part of the list is not closed. You can't receive MASS continence aids as a hospital in-patient, someone eligible for assistive technology assistance or funding through the NDIS, the National Injury Insurance Scheme or the Department of Veterans' Affairs, someone receiving Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding, meaning a resident of an accredited residential aged care facility, someone on a Home Care Package at level 3 or 4, or someone eligible for assistive technology assistance or funding through a Consumer Directed Care high care package or palliative care services.
Those are the program names in the MASS General Guidelines, last published in February 2025. Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages from 1 November 2025 and that section has not been republished since, so if you have moved to Support at Home, ring MASS and ask how it is treated rather than reading it off the list.
On compensation, the bar applies where you're receiving compensation or damages for the disability, or you're engaged in a claim and haven't acknowledged to MASS that you'll reimburse it if the claim succeeds. A claim in progress is a conversation with MASS, not an automatic no.
That list is a deflating read if you land on it, and because it is not a closed set, being funded for equipment or consumables under any other government program is worth raising with MASS directly. If MASS turns out to be closed to you, our guide to what cost help actually exists maps the other doors, and the National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 can talk through what else you might be eligible for.
For the CAPS side in full, see our complete guide to CAPS, and if you're weighing up which national scheme applies first, how CAPS and the NDIS compare sets out that decision. For the view across the country, we've written up the national picture on continence subsidies, and if CAPS turns out to be your scheme, applying for CAPS step by step walks through that form.
How to apply for MASS continence aids
A MASS designated prescriber assesses your continence needs and lodges the Continence Aids Application Form, or a MASS-eApply application, on your behalf. MASS approves the supply and arranges it through its contracted suppliers. A prescriber application is needed again for the three-yearly review and any time the type of aid changes: you don't lodge those yourself.
For continence aids, the designated prescribers are a continence specialist registered nurse, a geriatrician, an occupational therapist, a paediatrician, a physiotherapist, a registered nurse, a urogynaecologist or gynaecologist, and a urologist. In rural and remote areas, MASS will also consider a three-yearly review application from an Indigenous Health Worker or an enrolled nurse where there is evidence of consultation with one of those designated prescribers. If you're already seeing any of them, that's the person to raise it with.
The prescriber lodges the form with your card evidence and a continence assessment or care plan attached. MASS asks for a month to process that first application. It then arranges supply and sends an approval letter. File that letter somewhere you'll find it, because the reapplication call goes faster with it in front of you.
Supply doesn't roll over on its own. Queensland Health states plainly that ongoing supply of continence aids does not happen automatically and that applicants must reapply one month before the next supply period.
Two practical notes from customers who've been through it. Book the assessment with someone who knows continence products rather than whoever is free soonest, because it sets the product type and quantity for the cycle ahead. If you don't have that person, working with a continence nurse explains how to find one.
And get measured properly beforehand. Fit affects how well a product contains, which is why it matters alongside absorbency rating, and that's easier to get right at the assessment than to fix later.
What to have ready for the assessment
The assessment lands closer to the mark when the prescriber has the real picture rather than a summary from memory. Five things worth taking in:
- The concession card itself, not the number written down. The card type is part of what decides eligibility, and MASS needs the evidence with the application.
- A current waist measurement in centimetres, taken around the natural waistline. Not a clothing size, and not last year's number.
- A week of honest notes on how often products are changed, when leaks happen, and whether nights or days are the problem. A prescriber can only set quantity against what they're told.
- The product currently in use, or a photo of the pack. Absorbency ratings and size codes differ between ranges, so the pack beats a description of it.
- Any other funding already in place, including DVA arrangements or a compensation claim, because those change what MASS can do for you.
Reviews, reapplying and what to do when things change
The three-yearly review is the scheduled checkpoint, not the only time to go back to a prescriber. If mobility changes, if someone moves from managing independently to needing a carer, or if the current product has started leaking, ask for a reassessment rather than waiting out the cycle.
Changes of address and of card status both need to reach MASS, and there's a published deadline on it. Queensland Health asks to hear within 14 days of a change of residential address or a change in your eligibility for MASS funding, a lapsed Health Care Card being the obvious example. The numbers to ring are under where to get independent help, below.
A move interstate matters more than people expect. MASS eligibility rests on being a permanent Queensland resident, so ring before you go rather than after.
Continence Health Australia lists schemes in the ACT, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, and each sets its own rules. That list is not complete, so a jurisdiction it does not name may still run something: Tasmania has a Continence Aids Scheme the Tasmanian Department of Health lists separately, with a Continence Nurse Advisor on 1300 134 106. Our guide to state and territory continence schemes sets out what each jurisdiction runs, and the National Continence Helpline can tell you what applies where you're moving.
If a product simply isn't working, say so plainly at the review. People are often reluctant to say so, because they assume the discomfort is just how continence products are. It often isn't something you have to put up with, and the review is the place to raise it.
If an application isn't approved, go back to the prescriber and ask why, and whether anything in the assessment can be revisited. A refusal under one scheme doesn't rule out the others.
Where to get independent help
MASS publishes a toll-free number, 1300 443 570, listed under both general enquiries and continence services, a direct continence line on (07) 3136 3665, and general enquiries on (07) 3136 3636. Everything above describes the MASS Queensland continence pathway as Queensland Health has published it. Queensland Health publishes the current scheme details, forms and subsidy levels at health.qld.gov.au/mass, and that page always wins over anything written here. It was last updated 28 July 2026 and says Queensland Health is currently conducting a review of the MASS.
The National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 is free and staffed by nurse continence specialists. They aren't selling anything and they know how the state and federal schemes interact, which makes them the most useful call for anyone who doesn't yet know which scheme they belong in. Continence Health Australia runs it.
Where Comfort First fits, and where we don't
Straight answer first: MASS supplies through its own contracted suppliers, and Comfort First is not one of them. If your products come through MASS, they come through MASS, and the people to talk to are your prescriber and Queensland Health. We'd rather say so plainly than let anyone waste a phone call.
Where we can help is everything around the edges of that. Plenty of Queenslanders buy their own products because they don't hold an eligible card, because the MASS cycle doesn't stretch to heavier overnight use, or because the booster pads they rely on aren't subsidised at all. CAPS is a payment rather than a supply, so recipients buy their own products, with the guidelines requiring the payment to go to continence and continence related products. And as a registered NDIS provider, we supply participants directly through our NDIS ordering page.
Comfort First is Australian owned and run, based in East Bendigo. The range covers pull-up pants and slips, insert boosters, Underpads Small and Underpads Regular, and the Maxi Bed Mat, the largest of the three disposable underpad sizes. You can see the Comfort First range online, and the team can talk a measurement through before you order.
If you don't yet know which scheme you belong in, ring the National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 first. If you're already a MASS client and nothing about your aid has changed, the call to make is the six-monthly reapplication, on (07) 3136 3665. And to talk products through with someone who knows them, call us on 03 5443 2239 or email sales@comfortfirst.au. We're happy to point you in the right direction even when the answer isn't a Comfort First product.