Community visitor reports

After visiting a care facility, the visitor must complete a visit report. The report is used to notify the service provider of issues that need to be clarified or resolved and to raise awareness of the impact, consequence or potential risk to an individual resident.

The report will also provide statistical information for analysis and to identify systemic issues impacting on residents.

Visitors submit their report to our Community Visitor Program within seven business days of their visit. The report is then processed and forwarded to the care facility within three business days.

During a visit, our community visitors will try to discuss any issues with staff before leaving the care facility to resolve them promptly.

Information the visitors discuss with staff or include in their reports is drawn from various sources at the care facility. It may include information gathered from conversations with residents and staff, observation and documents held on site.

Issues that visitors report on

Visitors report on:

• issues identified during a visit, including resolved inquiries
• ongoing issues identified during previous visits that are still outstanding
• follow-up action during the visit
• matters requiring further clarification
• any changes to the site details, for example, address, contact person, telephone number, maximum number of residents

Community visitor reports focus on inquiries and complaints raised by residents or on their behalf. Visitors will try to help the service provider’s staff and management to quickly identify and resolve all issues in the report.

In some cases, the underlying cause of the situation may be of a broader systemic nature, which is placing the resident in a situation of risk. Resolving the matter may require a systemic approach, for example, the review of policies or higher-level negotiations with other agencies.

Use of reports by service providers

The Community Visitor Program works proactively with service providers to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of residents at facilities and safeguard their interests. We encourage management to contact us to discuss any issues identified in a community visitor report. Our reports can help to raise awareness of resident’s interests, and we encourage management to use them to improve care at their facility.

Management can use the reports to help resolve issues by:

• discussing reports at staff and management meetings in a non-confrontational manner to encourage effective communication
• raising the report at staff meetings to identify risks to residents
• supporting management to raise the concerns of the independent community visitor with other agencies.

If the matter cannot be resolved, the visitor may choose to refer the complaint to senior management or other agency for resolution or further investigation.

A copy of a report can also be sent to the Adult Guardian, the Public Advocate and the Director of Mental Health.