Resource library

Outbreak management planning is a key part of infection prevention and control. This document supports both the development of a new outbreak management plan (OMP) and the quality assurance of existing plans. It details common OMP sections to get you started as you tailor your OMP to your service.

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.

Having a comprehensive and organisation-specific outbreak management plan (OMP) helps your organisation to be prepared for the management of infections and outbreaks within your service. A key part of this readiness is ensuring that your OMP is fit-for-purpose and that everyone across the organisation can implement it if required. One way to maintain readiness and support continuous improvement of your OMP is to run regular drills, or stress tests, of your plan.

This fact sheet explains how the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (Commission) works with and supports aged care workers to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people receiving aged care. It provides advice on how you can raise a concern or complaint about the safety or quality of care delivered to older people.

When considering impact on an individual and whether it meets the threshold for requiring treatment you need to consider the effect the incident has had, or could have had, on that consumer. The Impact Assessment Tool is designed to prompt providers to consider the potential or actual impacts on individual consumers.

This Regulatory Bulletin explains approved providers’ responsibilities relating to COVID-19 vaccinations and infection prevention and control. It details how the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (Commission) is regulating these responsibilities and responding to providers found to be non-compliant.

Joint letter on Winter outbreaks to Board Chairs, Residential Aged Care Providers from the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly and Commissioner Janet Anderson PSM. 

This workshop has been designed for home services providers and will help you to: 

This workshop has been designed for home services providers and will help you to: 

Letter from Commissioner Janet Anderson PSM and Chief Clinical Advisory Dr Melanie Wroth to residential aged care providers and people living in residential aged care homes on the importance of being up to date with COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Letter from Ann Wunsch to home services providers who have not reported a serious incident in the first 12 months of the Scheme. This is a follow-up communication to our letter sent to all home services providers on 27 June 2023.

This fact sheet includes suggested questions you can ask your provider about how prepared they are for an infectious disease outbreak (including COVID-19). It also includes links to a range of resources to help you feel safe, informed and connected.

A new learning resource for providers, featuring case study insights from unexplained absence from care incidents reported to the Commission is now available. 

Joint letter to approved providers of residential aged care services from the Commission and the Australian Electoral Commission about the 2023 referendum and COVID-19 entry approach for mobile polling staff.

Joint letter from the Commission and the Department of Health and Aged Care to approved providers on medication management.

A fact sheet for volunteer managers in aged care.

Letter from Ann Wunsch, Executive Director – Approvals and Serious Incident Notifications, regarding information about your SIRS responsibilities and reporting obligations.

Joint letter from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson PSM and Professor Paul Kelly, Chief Medical Officer to all approved providers of residential aged care services on uptake of the COVID-19 booster.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson, PSM, together with the Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health and Aged Care, Professor Paul Kelly issued a joint letter to aged care providers to provide advice in preparing a service for the upcoming Easter holiday period and the approaching winter season.

This webinar explored the early lessons and emerging trends since the extension of the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) to home services on 1 December 2022. The discussion focused on the importance of quality reporting and shared insights learned since 1 December 2022.
 

A new learning resource for providers, featuring case study insights from ‘unreasonable use of force’ incidents reported to the Commission is now available.