Aged Care Quality Standards
ACQS25-5.5 Medicines used to maximise benefit and minimise harm
Clause and reference 15-30(5) of the Aged Care Rules 2025 · our reference ACQS25-5.5
The requirement
The provider encourages and backs people, aged care workers, allied health professionals and the registered health practitioners to use medicines so the benefit is greatest and the risk of harm is least.
Our wording of the requirement: our statement of what the clause asks, not the instrument verbatim. Source: Aged Care Quality Standards on the compliance desk.
The evidence to bring
- Medication management policy
- Medication reviews and deprescribing records
- Psychotropic medicine use monitoring
What assessors commonly find
- Polypharmacy not reviewed
- High-risk medicines not flagged
What evidence do I need?
For ACQS25-5.5 Medicines used to maximise benefit and minimise harm, the evidence to bring is: Medication management policy; Medication reviews and deprescribing records. It sits under Standard 5 - Clinical care and the instrument's own clause is 15-30(5). Keep every record dated, signed and current, and name who owns it.
Answer the reviewer first
Show me medication management policy, and tell me who owns it and when it was last reviewed.
That is the question a quality assessor opens with for this requirement. Have the record on the desk and the date it was last reviewed to hand.
Read your own evidence against this clause
Paste your policy or evidence pack and the reading marks, line by line, whether a phrase from this requirement appears and quotes your own words when it does. It is a reading of your text, not a compliance result; a quality assessor decides whether a requirement is met. Read your pack, free See the paid reading