Self-assessment

What is self-assessment?

Information sheets on self-assessment are also available. Click on Industry Education - information sheets in the left hand menu.

Self-assessment is an internal process whereby a home’s management looks at how the home does things and what it achieves for the benefit of residents. During the process strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement are identified.

This process helps the home:

• gain an up to date picture of its achievements
• identify any gaps or opportunities for improvement
• plan to address the gaps.

Self-assessment can drive continuous improvement in the home because it helps the management and staff to:

• pause and think about the way the service works and what results are being achieved for residents
• identify the things that they are doing well
• identify areas where the service can perform exceptionally
• identify areas that are not performing well enough for residents
• identify areas that are not performing as well as management and staff would like
• identify the activities to be incorporated into an improvement plan.

Self-assessment also enables managers and staff to:

• provide feedback about the service
• deepen their understanding of improvement principles
• better understand how the home functions and performs
• gain experience in applying assessment and improvement tools
• develop and strengthen a sense of shared goals
• contribute to ongoing improvement for residents.

Self-assessment can be carried out in many ways. The provider and management of the home must decide what process is best for them. Involving the staff that undertake the processes being assessed is often a valuable way of learning what is really done in the home. If the self-assessment includes residents, their representatives or relatives, visiting health practitioners and other stakeholders, they too can contribute and learn as outlined above.

Regular self-assessment ensures that up to date information and evidence about performance is available. The results of self-assessment can be used to plan improvement activities, and the results of these can be evaluated and fed into the next self-assessment. So the process continues.

Importantly, self-assessment is an opportunity for the provider to check:

• compliance with each of the 44 expected outcomes
• what residents are gaining from the care and services provided
• whether what is intended to happen actually happens (such as whether policies and procedures are followed)
• whether the effectiveness of past improvements has been evaluated
• whether newly identified improvements are planned and can be managed and implemented.

As part of its application for accreditation, each home is required to provide a report on its performance against the Accreditation Standards based on self-assessment. Please be aware that providing false or misleading information is a serious offence under the Criminal Codes Act 1995.