I receive person-centred, evidence-based, safe, effective, and coordinated clinical care by qualified health professionals and competent workers that meets my changing clinical needs and is in line with my goals and preferences.
What is the intent?
Standard 5 aims to support providers improve the quality and safety of the clinical care* they deliver through Australian Government funded aged care services. It’s a statement about the quality of clinical care* older people can expect when receiving aged care services, wherever they are in Australia.
The health needs of people receiving aged care are, usually, greater and more complex than those of the general population. We need to meet their complex health care needs in a coordinated* and multidisciplinary way that involves both the health and aged care systems*.
Standard 5 describes the responsibilities of providers to deliver safe and quality clinical care* to older people. The governing body* has overall responsibility to ensure a clinical governance* framework is implemented and to monitor its effectiveness. Providers operationalise the clinical governance* framework and report on its performance.
Many older people who require clinical care* have multiple chronic co-morbidities and complex care needs. These people may be experiencing sickness, frailty*, disability, cognitive impairment* or be nearing the end of their life*. Access to a range of health professionals* is crucial to address and support these complex needs. Good clinical care* can optimise an older person’s quality of life*, reablement* and maintenance of function. Improved health and wellbeing* supports continued participation in activities that are enjoyable and give life meaning.
At all times, the clinical care* provided should be person-centred*. It should be planned and delivered in partnership* with the older person, involving family, carers and others in line with the older person’s needs and preferences. Delivering safe, quality clinical care* requires a multidisciplinary approach with a skilled workforce* with clear accountabilities that are supported to deliver contemporary, evidence-based* care. Allied health* professionals have distinct roles in reablement* and maintenance of an older person’s functional capabilities.
Effective implementation of Standard 5 is reliant on the systems* and processes* from Standards 1-7. Standard 5 does not seek to replicate the base expectation of understanding the person in Standard 1 or the base planning, assessment and delivery expectation of Standard 3 as an example. These systems* and processes* establish a baseline expectation which supports the delivery of person-centred* and safe clinical care*, ensuring that risks of harm to older people from clinical care* are minimised and support continuous quality improvement*.
Service context considerations for Standard 5
The guidance for Standard 5 helps providers understand and put in place the actions they need to do for each outcome of the standard.
Each action represents a component of what the provider needs to do to achieve the outcome.
All actions are relevant to all providers, whether they deliver aged care services in residential or home settings.
This guidance also includes ‘key tasks’ for each action.
Key tasks explain elements of contemporary evidence-based practice* in aged care. They include putting in place systems* and processes* and monitoring and continuously improving these.
The key tasks help providers to put in place each action. They’re not meant to be a ‘tick-box’ or complete list of strategies to put in place.
Most key tasks can be used for residential and home service providers. However, there is sometimes a difference between how residential and home service providers need to (or can) use the key tasks for an action.
These differences are highlighted in the actions and in the key as ‘service context considerations’.
