Put in place strategies that make sure the aged care services you deliver in an older person’s home are safe and meet their needs (Outcome 3.2).

These strategies need to cover all situations where you deliver aged care services in a person’s home. This helps make sure the environment is safe for the older person and workers.

When delivering care and services in a person’s home, use the organisation’s:

• risk management system (Outcome 2.4). Do this to identify, assess, document, manage and review any environmental risks that may affect the safety of the older person and workers. This includes risks to do with any equipment or aids you use in the delivery of aged care services. This also includes broader environmental risks such as overheating. Your risk management system should consider potential risks that fall outside the scope of older person’s care delivery. This can be done by conducting safety assessments and discussing options to mitigate any identified risks in consultation with the older person, as part of your service delivery obligations. For example, environmental risks such as cluttering, the presence of pets, poor lighting or unsafe flooring in the home that could lead to falls, particularly if the older person is at risk of falls. Where the older person receives aged care services from different providers, put in place systems that enable workers to share information with each other to help identify risks.
• communication system (Outcome 3.3). If you find any risks, discuss these and how you can manage them with the older person (Outcome 2.1). You also need to include other people, such as workers, supporters, family and carers in these discussions, with the older person’s consent. Keep in mind that not all risks can be eliminated or mitigated, and older people have the right to dignity of risk and choice during these discussions. Dignity of risk is the right of the older person to live the life they choose, even if their choices involve some risk.
• information management system to share information and communicate risks between providers, where the older person is receiving aged care services from different providers.

When the older person first starts receiving care, you may need to do an equipment and aid assessment. This assessment is to make sure the equipment and aids you give to the older person, or that they already have, meets their assessed needs. This includes you finding and providing the equipment, aids, devices and products they need. You need to complete an equipment and aid assessment even if you’re not providing equipment to the older person to assess that the older person’s care needs are met.

Put in place strategies that make sure the equipment and aids you provide to older people are suitable, safe, clean and meet their needs.

Make sure that any equipment and aids you provide:

• meet each older person’s needs and preferences (Outcome 1.1). Make sure this is based on the older person’s care and services plan as part of the assessment and planning process (Outcome 3.1). Some older people need a clinical assessment to identify what assistive equipment, aids and devices they need (Outcome 5.4). For example, an occupational therapist can assess the person to identify suitable mobility aids or transfer equipment, if they have difficulty moving around.
• are safe, clean and well-maintained for the older person to use and are used in the way they were designed and for their intended purpose. This includes equipment owned by providers and older people.

Also, put in place strategies to manage equipment. This can include:

• an inventory management system to record information about the equipment, such as where it is, what condition it’s in and who’s responsible for maintaining it. You can also use this system to record technical specifications of the equipment. This will help you to share and communicate information about the equipment and how it’s used. If you have many items to keep track of, an inventory management system can also help you track regular cleaning and maintenance needs.
• a maintenance plan that tracks when your equipment is scheduled for maintenance and repair works. This makes sure equipment is safe for ongoing use by the older person and workers. It needs to be clear whose responsibility it is to maintain equipment and aids. This can be documented in your agreements (Outcome 1.4).
• documented processes to make sure you clean equipment regularly. For example, before you give it to an older person and when it’s returned to you. This makes sure that equipment is cleaned and checked. Regular cleaning is important because dust, dirt or other materials can build up when equipment is used or has been stored. The process you use to clean equipment should also be in line with infection prevention and control practices (Outcome 4.2). For example, make sure equipment is cleaned straight away if it’s visibly dirty or soiled. You may need to increase how often you clean for high touch surfaces and during infectious disease outbreaks. These processes will help reduce the risk of surface contamination and transmission of infectious diseases (Outcome 4.2). It also needs to be clear whose responsibility it is to clean equipment and aids. You can record this in agreements (Outcome 1.4) or care and services plans (Outcome 3.1). Make sure equipment is cleaned with the right products, cleaning method, tools and following the manufacturer’s instructions and safety advice.
• processes to confirm that equipment associated providers and older people supply and own are safe and clean. This can include processes to ask for maintenance schedules and photos of equipment before it’s used, including equipment from the goods, equipment and assistive technology (GEAT) provider or procured through the assistive technology and home modifications scheme (AT-HM).

Make sure workers who provide aged care services in a home have the time, support and resources to manage risk.

Provide workers with guidance and training on how to assess, respond to and manage risks in a person’s home (Outcome 2.9). This needs to be in line with:

• the organisation’s policies and procedures
• contemporary, evidence-based practice
• workers’ roles and responsibilities.

Make sure workers understand how to:

• identify and manage risks using the risk management system (Outcome 2.4)
• use the communication and information management systems to share critical information about identified risks (Outcomes 2.7 and 3.3)
• refuse to carry out an activity or provide aged care services if they feel unsafe or threatened
• remove themselves from an unsafe or threatening situation and raise concerns if they need
• record incidents and near misses using the incident management system (Outcome 2.5).

The guidance for Outcome 2.4 has more information on risk management.

The guidance for Outcomes 2.8 and 2.9 has more information on workforce planning and worker training.
 

Make sure workers have the time, support and resources to check that equipment is safe, clean, well-maintained and meets the older person’s needs.

Provide workers with instructions, guidance and training on how to check, maintain and clean equipment used in an older person’s home (Outcome 2.9). This needs to be in line with:

• the organisation’s policies and procedures
• contemporary, evidence-based practice
• their roles and responsibilities.

Make sure workers understand how to:

• maintain and clean equipment following the manufacturer’s instructions and safety advice and in line with your organisation’s maintenance plan
• use the right cleaning products and method
• check that equipment and aids meet the older person’s needs and preferences
• use equipment safely, including in the way it was designed and for its intended purpose. Support older people to use equipment and aids safely.

The guidance for Outcomes 2.8 and 2.9 has more information on workforce planning and worker training. 

Monitor how well workers deliver aged care services in an older person’s home to make sure it’s safe and meets their needs.

To check if you’re managing risks in the home and the equipment you’re using well, you can review:

• older people’s aged care service documents (Outcome 3.1). For example, care and services plans and progress notes.
• feedback and complaints (Outcome 2.6a and 2.6b)
• incident information (Outcome 2.5).

Look for situations where:

• older people haven’t been involved in deciding how you’ll manage risks in their environment
• environmental risks haven’t been managed well
• equipment or aids have been reported as unsafe, unclean, not functional or not suitable for the older person’s needs.

Also, talk with older people, their supporters, families and carers about the safety, condition and comfort of their home when they’re receiving aged care services (Outcome 2.1). For example, ask them if their environment, equipment and aids are clean, safe, fit-for-purpose and meet their needs. Ask them if they feel their provider involves them when managing any environmental risks in their home. These conversations can then inform continuous improvement actions and planning (Outcome 2.1).

Assess if workers are following your quality system (Outcome 2.9). Assess if workers are using your risk management, communication and information management systems to help identify and communicate risks. You can do this through quality assurance and system reviews.

If you find any issues or ways you can improve through your reviews and assessments, you need to address them. If things go wrong, you need to:

• practise open disclosure. This means being open about what has gone wrong. Share what went wrong with older people, their supporters and others they may want to involve, such as family and carers.
• put in place strategies to mitigate the risk of things going wrong again.

The guidance for Outcome 2.3 has more information on monitoring the quality system.