About Monthly Care Statements
A Monthly Care Statement is a written statement that providers give to residents and their representatives every month.
The statement summarises:
- the care the resident accesses
- changes to the resident’s health or care needs
- other relevant events that occurred in the previous period.
We encourage all residential aged care homes to offer verbal or written Monthly Care Statements voluntarily from 1 October 2024. If you are planning to give your residents Monthly Care Statements, let us know so that we can keep you updated.
Why they are important
Monthly Care Statements help to improve communication between providers and residents and their representatives about residents’ health, wellbeing and care needs.
We are introducing the statements in response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Who can give Monthly Care Statements
All residential aged care providers can choose to start giving Monthly Care Statements to their residents from 1 October 2024. The Australian Government has not yet decided when the statements will become mandatory.
Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) and services funded under the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care (NATSIFAC) program can choose to offer statements. No decision has been made on whether the statements will be mandatory for these providers.
Benefits for residents
Monthly Care Statements will give residents:
- important information about their care in one easy-to-read statement, so they can monitor their care
- an overview of wellbeing activities, nutrition and weight, medication change and appointments
- a prompt for further conversations with their provider about whether their care needs adjusting
- confidence their provider has listened and acted on their requests and feedback
- increased visibility of their provider’s care assessments and planning results, which providers must make available to residents under the Aged Care Quality Standards 2(3)(d).
Benefits for providers
Monthly Care Statements benefit providers by:
- helping you review and adjust care management plans
- improving communication with your residents about their care needs
- helping you address concerns in a timely way
- identifying trends in the feedback you receive, which can help you to improve care across your home.
Stay up to date
Subscribe to the aged care sector newsletters and alerts to get regular updates, including about when the statements will become mandatory.