Almost 3,000 more aged care residents recorded significant unplanned weight loss last quarter than in the previous period, the latest aged care quality indicators report shows.
In the October-December 2019 quarter, 14,733 residents experienced significant unplanned weight loss, which is a loss of three or more kilograms in the period.
And 15,398 residents recorded consecutive unplanned weight loss, which is a loss of any amount every month over the three consecutive months.
This is up from 11,803 and 12,177 residents experiencing significant and consecutive unplanned weight loss respectively in the July-September 2019 quarter.
Thats according to the second quarterly report of the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare onGEN Aged CareData.
There were also more occasions of intentional physical restraint recorded in the October-December 2019 quarter (25,529) than in the previous quarter (25,101).
There were 60,804 recorded occasions of physical restraint devices such as bedrails, chairs with locked tables, seatbelts, safety vests and shackles to intentionally or otherwise restrain a resident, up from 60,217 the previous quarter.
In the October-December 2019 quarter, there were 12,509 pressure injuries recorded, down from 13,306 the previous quarter, according to the report.
Pressure injuries are categorised as:
Most of the recorded pressure injuries were stage 1 (5,426) and stage 2 (5,225), the least severe categories and both have decreased from the previous quarter (5,801 and 5,425 respectively).
However, the report shows there were more stage 3 pressure injuries (906) in the October-December 2019 quarter than the previous quarter (861).
Last quarter, 94 per cent of Commonwealth approved residential aged care services submitted on quality indicator data, up from 90 per cent the previous quarter, the AIHW said.
View the quality indicators data here.
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Tags: aihw, australian-institute-of-health-and-welfare, national-aged-care-mandatory-quality-indicator-program, news-2, physical restraints, pressure injuries
The rest is here:
Unplanned resident weight loss on the rise - Australian Ageing Agenda
