Care Guide for Health Care Assistants
The Care Guide for Health Care Assistants is a valuable resource for people providing care for frail, older people living in aged care.
About the Care Guide
We collaborated with the Waitematā DHB Gerontology Nursing Service and a team of aged residential care quality leads to update the clinical content and add a te ao Māori perspective to the guide. It replaces the caregiver guide developed by Waitematā DHB in 2010.
The guide has clinical and practice topics to improve the quality of care for older people. It includes guidance on mental and physical health, standards of care and a chapter on tikanga Māori for kaumātua.
Updated August 2026
Following feedback from across the health sector we have updated the Care Guide.
Changes include:
- improving formatting and clearer wording throughout the guide
- renaming the 'Behaviours of Concern' care guide to 'Changed Behaviours in Dementia' to reflect the language used across the sector
- adding three new topics
- Infection Prevention and Control
- Medication Management
- Oral Health and Mouth Care.
The Care Guide now covers 23 clinical and practice topics, supporting high-quality care for older people.
Resources
Care Guide for Health Care Assistants
Access the guide for mobile devices
Access the full guide in PDF format
Access the individual topics in PDF format
Promotional poster for aged residential care facilities
Download and display the poster to help raise awareness of the Care Guide among health care assistants.
Care Guide webinar
This webinar recording introduces the Care Guide, what topics it covers, and gives a brief history and context around its development.
Whakataukī and tohu design
This video explains our approach to encompass both te ao Pākehā and te ao Māori views into the Care Guide. It includes the creation of taonga that resonate both to kaupapa, and with everyone who has been involved in designing and implementing the guide.
Feedback
If you would like to learn more or have any questions, please email us: ARC@hqsc.govt.nz
Further information
