After-hours support is a critical component of care within residential aged care homes (RACHs). After-hours plans identify how to manage residents’ health care in the after-hours period and increase awareness of support available in primary health care (including general practice and pharmacies).
Primary Health Tasmania has created a suite of resources to assist with after-hours support planning for RACHs, including a planning guide and two workbooks plus accompanying instructional videos. The resources were developed specifically for Tasmanian facilities, in consultation with Tasmanian facilities.
After-hours care planning guide for residential aged care homes
This guide contains self-assessment questions to prompt exploration of current after-hours plans at the facility level and for individual residents, and resources and suggestions for what may be included in after-hours plans. The toolkit is designed to be used in conjunction with the planning workbook for the aged care home and the planning workbook for the resident (see below). It includes an example of a local service directory created by drawing on the healthdirect Australia National Health Services Directory.
More information about the toolkit – and how to use it – is available in this instructional video.
After-hours care planning workbook for the aged care home
To be used in conjunction with the after-hours care planning guide, this blank plan can be used to document a facility’s after-hours plan and contains self-assessment questions to prompt thinking about facility-wide processes relevant to the after-hours period. There is also a quick-guide template, which aged care homes may use to summarise key pieces of information that need to be accessed quickly and easily during the after-hours period.
More information about this workbook – and how to use it – is available in this instructional video.
After-hours care planning workbook for the resident
To be used in conjunction with the after-hours care planning guide, this blank plan can be used to document an individual resident’s after-hours care plan and contains self-assessment questions to prompt thinking about the resident’s care needs and preferences during the after-hours period. There is also a quick-guide template, which may be use to summarise key pieces of information that need to be accessed quickly and easily during the after-hours period. We encourage RACH staff to include residents and their responsible persons in the individual resident care planning process.
More information about this workbook – and how to use it – is available in this instructional video.