This report is about residential aged care and the quality of information the sector provides to the public about the legal choice of voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in Australia. The report’s purpose is twofold: to investigate what information providers make publicly available to residents and potential residents about VAD access, and to encourage transparency so that older Australians can make informed choices about their care. It provides four recommendations.

Alongside best practice examples, the report contains resources and a VAD information template to support residential aged care providers to make improvements to the current information they provide.

Key findings

• Despite VAD being legal in every state and the ACT, the majority of Australia’s residential aged care providers are yet to give VAD the same support and visibility as other end-of-life choices.
• 70% of residential aged care providers do not offer any public information about VAD.
• 85% of residential aged care providers do not offer VAD access to their residents.
• This means terminally ill older residents and their families can find out too late that they are required to move elsewhere if they wish to access VAD.