Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s

Needs

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

Care plans must be developed with the older person or their advocate.

Care plans help older people control their own service

needs and ensure workers understand these needs. By

developing a care plan, a service is agreeing to meet the older person’s needs.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

Care plans:• Are used in both residential care and

community programs• Explain:

an older person needs, goals for the support being given or what the older person wants to achieve.

How, when and where the support will be given.

The older person's preferences.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

Your job may involve assessing an older person's needs. Assessing the needs of older people means:1. Identifying their needs.2. Knowing what the older person can

and cannot do.3. Understanding the older person’s

expectations of a service.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

• Aged care services must identify if they can't meet an older person's needs.

• They should then refer the older person to another service and help them make contact.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

You might already know of other

services that can help or you may need to ask your

supervisor.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

• Ensure information and referrals are understood by older people & advocates by: Providing brochures in other languages Printing material in larger print Recording material in audio format Using an interpreter Explaining the information in person Rewriting the information to make it easier

to read or understand

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

• Aged care services must make sure the older person & advocate understand all the choices available to them.

• Choices include: Services at home such as getting help with

cooking and cleaning Where to live Getting respite care Cost, the services provided and

their responsibilities

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

• There should be no pressure from the service to take particular types of support.

• Older people & advocates should have the time they need to make choices.

• The older person & davocate advocate must be able to ask questions. They must understand what their choices mean.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

• The care you give must always be of the same standard. It should not be better or worse for one person than another.

• The support you give must change for different needs but this does not mean giving a different standard of care.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

• Sometimes older people may not be happy with the services they get. They may want to make a complaint. You need to know how complaints can be made and what happens after a complaint is made.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

As a carer you must:• Provide the same quality of service

to everyone. • Respect their living situations and

choices. • Provide support that meets their

needs.

Assessing & Attending to an Older Person’s Needs

• The National Aged Care Advocacy Program (NACAP) is a national program funded by the Australian Government under the Aged Care Act 1997.

• The NACAP aims to promote the rights of people receiving Australian Government funded aged care services.

IHNA offers qualifications in aged care, disability and nursing. Go to http://www.ihna.edu.au to kick start your health career.

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