Monthly Care Statements for Residential Aged Care

A Monthly Care Statement is a summary of care, health changes and events pertaining to an aged care resident over the past month. It is provided to residents and their representatives (DoHaAC 2024a).

Currently, residential aged care providers are not required to provide Monthly Care Statements. However, they are encouraged to do so voluntarily in preparation for when they eventually become mandatory (DoHaAC 2024b).

Voluntary Monthly Care Statements can be delivered either in verbal or written form (DoHaAC 2024b).

Note: It is currently not known when Monthly Care Statements will become mandatory.

What is the Purpose of Monthly Care Statements?

Monthly Care Statements have been introduced in response to the findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. They aim to facilitate increased communication between providers, aged care residents and their representatives (DoHaAC 2024a).

(DoHaAC 2024a)

What Should Monthly Care Statements Include?

Required Information

Every Monthly Care Statement should include the following information:

Identity

A unique identifier for the resident that maintains their privacy (e.g. ‘JS45’ for John Smith born in 1945).

Wellbeing activities

List any wellbeing activities the resident participated in and how often they participated. Wellbeing activities can include physical, social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual recreation. Examples inclue music, social events, crafts and excursions.

Nutrition and weight

The resident’s current weight and whether this has changed since the previous month. Changes should be stated as both a percentage (%) and the amount of kilograms gained/lost (+ or -). A rationale should be included for planned weight loss. This section can also include information on the resident’s diet or allergies if applicable.

Medication changes

This could include documents such as medication charts.

Appointments

List any appointments or hospital visits the resident attended, including the date, time, location, relevant healthcare professionals (e.g. general practitioner, dentist, physiotherapist) and purpose of the visit. This should include both internal and external appointments.

(DoHaAC 2024c)

Other Relevant Information

Other information that may be included in a resident’s Monthly Care Statement, if applicable, is:

• A summary of the resident’s current health conditions, treatments and/or cognitive or behavioural changes
• The status of any wounds the resident has
• Changes to the resident’s mobility, including any mobility aids or assistance they use
• Falls the resident has experienced
• Any other relevant information.

(DoHaAC 2024c)

A sample Monthly Care Statement from the Department of Health and Aged Care can be found here.