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).

Monthly Care Statements enable aged care residents to:	Monthly Care Statements enable aged care providers to:
Have a clear summary of their care See an overview of different aspects of their care, including wellbeing activities, nutrition, weight, medication changes and appointments Seek further discussions with their provider about their care needs Track whether their provider has appropriately acted on feedback Have increased transparency about their provider’s care assessments and planning results.	Help residents review and adjust their care management plans Improve communication with residents Promptly address residents’ concerns Assess feedback for trends and improvement opportunities.

Monthly Care Statements enable aged care residents to:

Monthly Care Statements enable aged care providers to:

Have a clear summary of their care
See an overview of different aspects of their care, including wellbeing activities, nutrition, weight, medication changes and appointments
Seek further discussions with their provider about their care needs
Track whether their provider has appropriately acted on feedback
Have increased transparency about their provider’s care assessments and planning results.

Help residents review and adjust their care management plans
Improve communication with residents
Promptly address residents’ concerns
Assess feedback for trends and improvement opportunities.

(DoHaAC 2024a)

What Should Monthly Care Statements Include?

monthly care statements worker showing clipboard to older person

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.

Topics

References

Additional Resources

Test Your Knowledge

Question 1 of 3

What is the primary purpose of Monthly Care Statements?

To replace medical records for aged care residents

To facilitate increased communication between providers, aged care residents and their representatives

To determine eligibility for government-funded aged care services

To document financial transactions related to aged care