Common terms
This list contains simple, practical definitions for terms relating to accreditation.
| Accountability Principles 1998 | The procedures to be followed when gaining access to a residential aged care home, including the approved provider’s responsibilities. |
| Accreditation | This is the arrangement established by the Australian Government to verify all residential aged care homes provide quality care and services. All residential aged care homes must be accredited in order to receive residential care subsidies from the Australian Government. |
| Accreditation fee | The fee paid by an approved provider for a residential aged care home applying for accreditation. |
| Accreditation Grant Principles 1999 | The procedures to be followed during the accreditation and monitoring process. |
| Accreditation period | The period of accreditation granted to a residential aged care home, based on the home’s compliance with the Accreditation Standards, history, undertaking to continuously improve and its compliance with other responsibilities under the Aged Care Act 1997. An approved provider must reapply for accreditation before the end of the current period. |
| Accreditation Standards | The four standards outlining the required level of care and services to be provided by residential aged care homes. The Accreditation Standards are found in the Quality of Care Principles 1997 and together include 44 expected outcomes. |
| Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) | A statutory body which provides independent review of certain Agency decisions as outlined in Part 7 of the Accreditation Grant Principles 1999. |
| Aged Care Act 1997 | The governing Act which, amongst other things, outlines the requirement for residential aged care homes to be accredited. One of its objects is to promote a high quality of care and accommodation for the recipients of aged care services that meets the needs of individuals. |
| Approved provider | A person or body approved by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Ageing as a provider of residential aged care. |
| Assessment information | Information provided to an approved provider which supplies details on the assessment team’s recommendations about compliance for site audits and review audits. |
| Assessment module | A thematic and resident-focused approach to assessment to provide advice to residential aged care homes and the Agency regarding weaknesses in systems. They encompass all 44 expected outcomes. |
| Assessment team | A team of registered assessors created for the purpose of carrying out desk audits, accreditation site audits, review audits and support contacts. |
| Assessor | A person appointed by the Agency to conduct assessments. This person must be registered. |
| Audit handbook | The document used by assessors describing the Agency’s audit methodology. |
| Better practice | A better way of doing a function or process. The Agency refers to it as ‘better practice’ as it is not fixed and an organisation will continually strive to maintain a momentum and culture of organisation performance improvement. |
| Better practice in aged care award | An award presented for better practice in any program run by a residential aged care home which benefits the lives of residents. |
| Case management | The approach used to ensure the coordination of a range of services and actions based on the individual circumstances of each residential aged care home. |
| Commencing home | A residential aged care home where an approved provider has been allocated places but which have not been previously used for delivering residential aged care. This does not apply to existing residential aged care homes which have had an increase in bed numbers. |
| Continuous improvement | A total approach to monitoring and achieving improvement in how a residential aged care home operates, the care and services provided, and the results for residents and other stakeholders. |
| Decision-maker | A person within the Agency appointed to make a decision about a residential aged care home. |
| Desk audit | The preliminary step in the accreditation process after the Agency has determined an application for accreditation to be valid. It involves an off-site review of the application by an assessment team. |
| Does comply/compliant | This refers to a residential aged care home being able to demonstrate the achievement of an individual expected outcome. |
| Does not comply/non-compliant | This refers to a residential aged care home not being able to demonstrate the achievement of an individual expected outcome. |
| Entry meeting | The meeting conducted at the beginning of each visit with the approved provider, their representative, key personnel, or person in charge. This meeting outlines the approved provider’s rights and responsibilities, and outlines the proposed plan for the visit. |
| Exit meeting | The meeting conducted at the end of each visit with the approved provider, their representative, key personnel, or person in charge. This meeting outlines the next steps in the process, and provides some feedback on the visit. |
| Expected outcome | One of the 44 intended outcomes that together make up the Accreditation Standards which form part of the Quality of Care Principles 1997. |
| Plan for continuous improvement (PCI) | A written plan which explains how a residential aged care home will continue to improve its processes and results, measured against the Accreditation Standards. |
| Process | A systematic series of actions. |
| Quality assessor | See ‘assessor’. |
| RACS ID | Residential Aged Care Service Identification. This is the number assigned by the Department of Health and Ageing to each residential aged care home. |
| Registrar | The person who regulates the aged care quality assessors. |
| Residential aged care home | An organisation which provides care and accommodation for aged people. For the purposes of accreditation, this refers to residential aged care homes which receive funding from the Commonwealth Government. |
| Results | Achievements for which there is some quantitative or qualitative evidence. |
| Results and processes guide | The document used to assist assessors to identify and consider the relevant results and processes for the expected outcomes. It does not prescribe how residential aged care homes should meet the Accreditation Standards. |
| Review audit | A full assessment of an accredited residential aged care home against the Accreditation Standards, undertaken during its period of accreditation. |
| Review audit report | The report of a review audit which is published on this website. |
| Sanctions | One or more conditions which may be placed on the operation of a residential aged care home by the Department of Health and Ageing. |
| Self-assessment | A structured internal process of assessment by the approved provider measured against the Accreditation Standards and used to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. |
| Serious risk | Evidence of significant risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of a person receiving care. |
| Site audit | The site assessment of a residential aged care home against all of the Accreditation Standards for the purposes of renewing accreditation. |
| Site audit report | The assessment team’s report of a site audit which is published on this website. |
| Statement of major findings | The document provided to approved providers which outlines the team’s recommendations about the residential aged care home’s compliance with the Accreditation Standards. It is provided at the end of site audits. |
| Support contact | An assessment of a residential aged care home for the purposes of monitoring a residential aged care home’s compliance with the Accreditation Standards and supervising and assisting it to undertake continuous improvement. This does not entail a review of all 44 expected outcomes and is therefore usually a shorter visit. |
| Support contact record | The report of a support contact which is provided to the approved provider. Support contacts are not public documents. |
| Sustainable | Processes or results which have become part of a residential aged care home’s culture and will survive staffing or other organisational change. |
| Timetable for improvement (TFI) | The period during which a residential aged care home must remedy non-compliance. |
| Unannounced visit | A support contact or review audit undertaken without prior notice to the approved provider. |
