Supporting visitors to your service
Infection prevention and control, also known as IPC, are the steps and processes that people can use to reduce the spread of harmful germs and bacteria. People who visit aged care services can help support IPC processes.
As providers of aged care services, you will have many different visitors to your service and supporting all of them with IPC will ensure that everyone is safe.
The Commission has developed resources to help you support visitors, including a training PowerPoint to run a session with your staff.
Resources to support visitors
- Supporting people who are visitors in your service - A training resource for aged care workers - training PowerPoint
- Your role in infection prevention and control when visiting an aged care service - video
- Your role in infection prevention and control when visiting an aged care service - poster
Partnerships in care program
A Partnership in care program helps people living in aged care to keep in contact with family or friends even if there’s an infectious outbreak. Continuing these relationships and companionship is important for people’s health and wellbeing.
A resident can choose a close family member or friend as a ‘partner in care’. The aged care home and the partner then put a formal partnership in place. Partners in care can continue to visit even during an infectious outbreak.
Having a partner agreement also means the resident can have continuity of care if the partner isn’t able to visit. The agreement lists the care and activities that the partner is doing for the resident. The service will then be able to support any important activities while the partner is away. This makes sure the resident keeps getting the care they need.
To become a partner a person needs to do basic training in infection prevention and control. Partners also need to understand what they need to do to enter an aged care home during an outbreak. We have developed resources with this information for you to give to people wanting to become a partner. You can also find resources to help you put the program in place at your service listed below.
Partners in care program resources
Residential aged care providers
- Provider fact sheet – explains Partnerships in care programs to residential aged care providers.
- Provider toolkit – supports providers to set up a Partnerships in care program in their service.
- Visiting during an outbreak poster – an A3 poster you can use during an outbreak. It explains the key things for partners in care to remember when visiting an aged care home during an outbreak.
- Partnerships in Care Agreement – sample – shows an example of what a partner agreement might look like.
Information for partners in care
We have developed information and resources on infection prevention and control for visitors and residents. This includes information and resources for people who want to become a partner in care. You can find information on our Older Australians Infection prevention and control page.
