Self-assessment for National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program services

All providers of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (NATSIFACP) services are required to complete and submit self-assessment information to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission as part of the quality review process. The quality review process includes notification of a quality review, self-assessment, a site visit, an interim quality review report, a plan for continuous improvement and monitoring activities.

Make sure your service provides high quality care and services at all times.

To assist you with completing your self-assessment, download our template for NATSIFACP services (word). 

Note: There are fields in the documents to complete electronically

Before you complete the template, familiarise yourself with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program standards.

What is self-assessment?

Self-assessment is an important part of the quality review process. It provides you with an opportunity to evaluate your current performance against the standards. This helps to identify your service’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement.

Why undertake a self-assessment?

Self-assessment is an important tool in the process of continuous improvement. It will help you to understand where change is needed and lead to better quality care and services for care recipients.

Undertaking a self-assessment will provide you with evidence that improvement has taken place and assist you with communicating your success. Self-assessment enables you to:

• confirm areas where you are meeting the standards
• identify gaps in your current systems and processes that do not meet the standards
• plan action to address any identified gaps in your systems and processes, prior to the on-site quality review being conducted
• identify additional opportunities for improvement, even where the standards are met, to support continuous improvement.

How do I plan for my self-assessment?

Make self-assessment a positive mechanism to support improvement and be a sign post for good practice.

Approach the process of self-assessment as an ongoing tool rather than a task that is completed in a short or contained period of time, in between other duties.

You might find it useful to review and update your self-assessment regularly, for example monthly or quarterly so that it continues to develop over a period of time. This will also assist with updating your plan for continuous improvement.

Get organised. Wherever possible the assessment should be completed by a small team to assist with getting the evidence together and checking the accuracy of details. Involve care recipients and their representative throughout this process.

Identifying areas of risk to the standard of care and services

There are known sector-wide risks that can affect the standard of care and service.

Your self-assessment should include any risk factors that may have an impact on your service and how you are managing to ensure that your service delivers on the expected outcomes for care recipients and prevent possible harm to their safety, health or wellbeing.   

Potential risk factors may include:

• relocation of service, development applications or building works
• increase in bed numbers
• the number of care recipients with an appointed public guardian
• any recommendations for improvement or adverse findings by an alternate oversight or regulatory or investigative body
• changes to key personnel for the service.

Submitting your self-assessment

Your completed self-assessment should be reviewed by peers or senior staff to check for accuracy and completeness. Once this review is complete, your self-assessment will be ready for submission to the Commission as part of the quality review process. This will usually be within six weeks of the date that the self-assessment has been requested.

Report on the findings

Report the findings of your self-assessment within your service and to your governing body so that organisation wide strategies can be developed to support improvement. 

For any further information or questions, please contact your Regional office 1800 951 822.

New Aged Care Quality Standards

Assessment and monitoring against the new Aged Care Quality Standards will commence on 1 July 2019. A Self-Assessment Tool for the new Aged Care Quality Standards has been developed to assist providers to prepare for the new Standards. For more information see our Self-assessment page.