Countdown to Compliance: Are You Ready for the New Aged Care Quality Standards on 1 November 2025?

With the 1 November 2025 deadline fast approaching, aged care providers across Australia are preparing to meet the new Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards - a transformative update aimed at delivering safer, more personalised, and dignified care for older Australians.

One of the most significant changes relates to food and nutrition across both residential and home care settings. For the first time, there is a clear, regulated requirement for providers to engage an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) to assess meals and food services annually.

Why the New Standards Matter

The updated Standards are a shift toward person-centred care, placing a strong emphasis on choice, autonomy, and overall wellbeing. For food and nutrition, this means more than just delivering meals, it means ensuring that what’s served is nutritious, culturally appropriate, visually appealing, and tailored to meet the unique needs of older people.

Whether your organisation provides meals in a residential aged care home or through in-home and community respite services, these new obligations apply.

APD Involvement is Now Mandatory

Under the new Standards, an APD must conduct a full assessment of meals and food services at least once every 12 months. This applies to:

• Residential Aged Care: On-site APD-led assessments must evaluate not just menu content but also the dining environment, staff practices, and resident satisfaction.
• In-Home Care: Any provider delivering Commonwealth-funded meals must also have menus and meal offerings reviewed annually by an APD - including specialised diets (e.g. diabetic, texture-modified, low sodium).

These assessments ensure that meals meet nutritional guidelines, reflect contemporary best practice, and are appropriate for older people’s needs, including higher requirements for protein, calcium, and individual dietary considerations.

Continuous Improvement Is Key

The Strengthened Standards require providers to demonstrate ongoing improvement in food services. This includes:

• Gathering and acting on feedback from older people (via surveys, interviews, or discussions)
• Reviewing meal satisfaction, presentation, portion size, and cultural relevance
• Ensuring staff are trained in nutrition and mealtime support
• Maintaining clear policies and documentation for compliance audits

With these expectations, food and nutrition become not just a basic service, but a critical contributor to the physical, emotional, and social wellbeing of older Australians.

Haven’t Had Your APD Review Yet? Now’s the Time

As the countdown to November begins, providers must ensure they’ve met the annual APD review requirement. If you haven’t had an assessment this year - whether you’re a home care provider or operate a residential facility, now is the time to book.

At Nutrition Professionals Australia (NPA), our team of experienced APDs work with aged care providers across the country to help them navigate these changes confidently. From menu and mealtime assessments to quality assurance support, we’re here to ensure your services are compliant, client-focused, and audit-ready.

Get in touch with NPA today to schedule your APD assessment and take the next step toward compliance by 1 November.