Quality Standards Resource Centre

This guide discusses strategies for supporting independent living in older adults, covering concepts of healthy ageing, using aged care services, respite care, and re-aligning function. It highlights the role of general practitioners in promoting autonomy, addressing individual needs, and avoiding ageist language while facilitating access to community or residential care services.

This guide addresses the management of disabilities in older adults, including mobility, cognitive impairments, developmental disabilities, hearing and visual impairment, psychiatric conditions, and neurodegenerative disorders. It outlines approaches for general practitioners to provide holistic care, monitor health risks, adapt support systems, and coordinate with allied health professionals in residential aged care settings.

This guide addresses the healthcare needs of older LGBTI people, covering areas such as mental health, substance use, chronic disease risks, and the importance of inclusive care. It provides strategies for culturally safe practices, promoting wellbeing, recognising abuse, and details standards for LGBTI-inclusive services, such as organisational capability and consumer participation.

This guide discusses managing multimorbidity, which involves the presence of multiple chronic diseases and their impact on older adults' quality of life and independence. It outlines the role of general practitioners in care coordination, shared decision-making, and holistic care approaches, considering the benefits and risks of interventions across residential and community care settings.

This guide covers advance care planning for older adults, detailing the process of discussing patients' values, appointing a decision-maker, and documenting preferences for future care. It outlines the general practitioner’s role, steps for initiating discussions, assessing decision-making capacity, storing care plans, and ensuring patients' wishes are respected during their illness trajectory.

This resource, part of the RACGP Silver Book, provides guidance for general practitioners on delivering healthcare to older people in both residential aged care facilities and the community. It addresses challenges of ageing, healthcare delivery, and principles of medical care, offering practical advice to ensure appropriate and effective management of older patients.

This resource outlines the role of Accredited Practising Dietitians (APDs) in medical nutrition therapy across various health conditions, including those common in aged care. It includes indications for referral to an APD and highlights benefits such as improved nutritional status, symptom management, and enhanced health outcomes. This resource may apply to healthcare contexts outside of aged care. Please consider the applicability of this resource to your care setting.

This resource provides guidance for aged care assessors and service providers on accessing and using the My Aged Care portals. It outlines steps for setting up secure access through authentication methods, managing organisation information, and creating staff accounts, supporting efficient service delivery and assessment processes. 

This resource may refer to information that will be updated from 1 July 2025 to align with the new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards.

This guide discusses frailty in older adults, detailing assessment methods, risk factors, and management strategies. It includes annual frailty assessments, involvement of multidisciplinary teams (physiotherapists, dietitians), recommendations for physical activity, nutrition support, vitamin D supplementation, medication review, and interventions to reduce complications such as falls and malnutrition in aged care.

This resource outlines the professional standards required for nurses and midwives to practise in Australia, including codes of conduct, standards for practice, and codes of ethics. It provides access to various documents, fact sheets, and guidelines that define the expected practice and behaviour for different nursing roles.

This resource provides guidance for healthcare provider organisations to meet Rule 42 of the My Health Records Rule 2016. It covers creating, communicating, and enforcing a written Security and Access policy to access the My Health Record system, addressing authorisation, training, security measures, and risk mitigation.

This resource provides information for healthcare providers on digital health tools and initiatives. It covers services such as My Health Record, secure messaging, electronic prescriptions, and telehealth. It supports providers in using digital technologies to enhance healthcare delivery and improve patient outcomes.

This resource is a fact sheet providing guidance for dental staff when working with Stolen Generations survivors. It discusses understanding trauma, effective communication, addressing potential triggers in clinical settings, and respecting cultural sensitivities. It includes practical tips on culturally safe practices to support the specific needs of this community.

This resource provides a variety of documents and resources to support the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It covers topics including leadership in mental health, culturally safe practices, social and emotional wellbeing, suicide prevention, and strategic policy frameworks, offering tools for health professionals and communities.

This resource provides information about dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It covers the effects on mind, body, and spirit, the prevalence among older and younger people, risk factors like genetics and lifestyle, and the types of dementia most common in these communities. It emphasises the importance of cultural understanding in dementia care.

This resource introduces the Abbey Pain Scale, a non-verbal pain assessment tool designed for identifying pain in people living with dementia. It aids healthcare professionals in recognising pain behaviours in those unable to communicate their needs effectively, supporting timely and appropriate pain management interventions.

This resource provides guidelines for preventive activities in general practice, covering frailty, hearing, sleep disorders, oral health, urinary incontinence, and vision.

This resource addresses the challenges people with cognitive disabilities face when accessing healthcare, such as communication barriers, limited access to quality services, over-prescription, and restrictive practices. It invites feedback on how to improve care quality and ensure the human rights of those with disabilities are upheld, incorporating considerations for different cultural and demographic groups.

This resource provides culturally safe and responsive palliative care information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It includes guidance for health professionals on culturally appropriate care, patient and family journeys, and relevant research and practices to support respectful and effective healthcare for Indigenous communities.

This resource provides guidance on nutrition for people in palliative care. It highlights the importance of prioritising comfort and quality of life over nutritional intake. It discusses oral intake, artificial hydration, and medically assisted nutrition, emphasising communication with families and cultural considerations when managing nutrition and hydration at the end of life.