Residential Aged Care Coronial Communique

The Residential Aged Care Coronial Communiqué highlights selected cases that have been reported to the State Coroner's Office and are of interest to the Aged Care Community. The aims of the Communiqué are:

• To improve the awareness of clinicians, health workers, carers and those in positions of governance about adverse events resulting from systems failures. Lessons from past cases can then be applied to their own institutions.

• To improve residential aged care workers' understanding of the coronial system and the work performed by the Clinical Liaison Service.

The Communiqué will be produced quarterly and distributed electronically to subscribers who have registered their interest with the publication team. Subscription is free of charge and can be sent to your preferred email address. To be added to our distribution list, please email racc@vifm.org and request to be added to the Residential Aged Care Coronial Communiqué list.

What's New?

The latest edition of the Residential Aged Care Coronial Communiqué (June 2008) is now available:

RAC CC issue 6
This edition focuses on the issue of pressure ulcers and presents three cases along with two short reports about the research evidence base and current practice in the prevention, recognition and management of pressure ulcers.

The Clinical Liaison Service have provided a template to assist contributors to explain how the Residential Aged Care Coronial Communiqué has assisted to change practice in your facility. Please access this template here: RACC Feedback Template

Other Publications:

An informatic and referenced discussion on  Choking and Nutrition in RAC residents is available here and a  List of Key Issues that Residential Aged Care Facilities Need to Address is available here.

Previous Editions:

 RACC Issue 5 (April 2008) reminds and refreshes memories about the lessons learnt from the preceding four issues about the prevention of deaths from physical restraints, falls, choking and gaps in the interfaces of care.

 RACC Issue 4 (February 2008) explores the challenges of the interfaces between aged care facilities and families, hospitals, general practitioners and emergency departments. The supplementary articles are available here: Supplementary Articles (Vol 3 Iss 1: February 2008) References for commentary: References (Vol 3 Iss 1: Feb 2008)

RACC Issue 3 (June 2007) addresses the subject of Choking and Nutrition in Residential Aged Care residents

RACC Issue 2 (March 2007) and the full copy of Keith Hill's article can be accessed here Keith Hill's Falls Article

RACC Issue 1 (October 2006) - the first edition of the Residential Aged Care Coronial Communique