Australian Health and Aged Care Resource Guide

The May 2026 Australian Health and Aged Care Resource Guide is out now and features an article by our very own Carrie Spinks, ACIPC IPC Consultant

Carrie’s piece, entitled Infection Prevention and Control: The quiet hero of aged care, explores the ways in which Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is a foundational element of safe aged care, protecting vulnerable older people and the healthcare workers (HCWs) who care for them across all settings — residential facilities, group homes, and home care. Each setting presents its own challenges, from managing shared communal spaces in residential care, to balancing safety with homeliness in group homes to adapting practices to the unique conditions of each client’s home. Risk assessment is central in every context, guiding decisions around hand hygiene, PPE, cleaning, ventilation, and equipment reprocessing.

Effective IPC depends on strong organisational leadership, adequate resourcing, and a safety culture that empowers HCWs to follow protocols without fear of reprisal. When accountability is embedded at every level — supported by the Aged Care Act 2024 and the Strengthened Aged Care Standards — IPC works quietly but profoundly to ensure older people can live safely and with dignity.

You can read the article on page 83 here:

https://resource.australianhealthandagedcare.com.au/view/731843646/82/