Key points:

• Providers should be alert to choking risks within your service
• Providers should ensure 24/7 onsite first aid capabilities
• All staff should understand how to manage a choking event
• Clinical staff should be able to access and use suction devices to remove food and liquid from the mouth and throat if required
• Suction devices should be checked regularly to ensure they are functioning properly
• All staff should be aware that an advance care directive not to resuscitate does not mean first aid shouldn’t be performed when needed e.g. during a choking episode.

The Commission is advising you as a residential aged care provider to be alert to choking risks and to ensure 24/7 onsite first aid capabilities within your service.

This alert comes after a South Australian coroner made recommendations in a recent report about managing a choking incident in a residential aged care service.

You should ensure there is onsite first aid capability at your service and that all staff within your service know how to access this at any time.

Read more:

Clinical Alerts: Ensuring first aid capabilities to manage choking risk in residential aged care