Shift handover

What is a shift handover?

A shift handover is the structured passing of information from the workers finishing a shift to the workers starting the next one, so participants' support continues safely. It covers anything that affects a participant in the next shift: health changes, medication given, missed or due, incidents and risks, appointments, and actions to follow up. The safest handovers are written and then talked through.

Handovers matter most where support runs around the clock, such as Supported Independent Living (SIL), but they happen anywhere more than one worker supports the same person: in-home care, community access and respite. A participant should not have to repeat what happened this morning to every new worker, and a worker should not discover a missed dose or a new injury halfway through their shift.

Handover is about the next few hours. It is different from the record of the shift kept on the participant's file, and from formal reports such as incident reports, although it often points to them.

What a shift handover must cover

A simple priority rule keeps handovers short and useful: safety first, then time-critical, then everything else. For each participant, cover:

• Health and safety: anything new or different, such as illness, injury, falls, seizures, changes in eating, drinking or sleep, or behaviours of concern.
• Medication: what was given as charted, declined or missed, any PRN given and why, and what is due next shift (see medication management).
• Incidents: what happened, whether it was recorded and reported, and any ongoing risk (see reportable incident).
• Time-critical tasks: appointments, transport, deliveries and visitors.
• Actions: who needs to do what, and by when.
• The participant's wishes: things they asked for or want to do.
• The house or environment: equipment faults, supplies running low, keys, money and property.

How to do a shift handover

A good handover follows the same steps every time, so nothing depends on who is on shift or how busy it was.

Some services borrow structured formats from health care, such as ISBAR (identify, situation, background, assessment, recommendation), to keep verbal handovers focused. Any structure works if it is used consistently and covers the safety items above.

Handover in shared living

In a shared home, write one section per participant and one section for the house, so each resident's information stays separate and can be filed against their own record. Hand over in a private space rather than in front of other residents or visitors: participants' health and personal information is private. The roster of care or roster should allow a short overlap between shifts where possible, because a handover squeezed into the doorway is where details get lost.

Closing the loop

A handover action nobody checks is just a note. Every action needs an owner and a deadline, the incoming worker should acknowledge they have read the handover, and the next handover should record whether each open action was done. Actions still open after one or two shifts go to the coordinator, who also scans handovers for patterns, such as repeated declined medication or the same equipment fault, that may need a plan or risk review.

Verbal vs written handover

Both have a place. The safest pattern is written first, verbal on top: complete the written handover, then talk the incoming worker through the safety items and let them ask questions.

Shift handover vs progress notes and shift notes

People often mix up handovers with progress notes and shift notes. They do different jobs, and one should not replace the other.

If a handover item is actually an incident, it must go through the provider's incident management system, not only the handover. Registered providers must keep incident records for 7 years under the NDIS (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018. The free NDIS progress note writer includes a handover section to help keep notes and handovers consistent.

What the NDIS rules say

No NDIS rule uses the words "shift handover" or prescribes a handover form, but several standards depend on it:

• The Continuity of supports outcome in the Quality Indicators Guidelines expects day-to-day operations to avoid disruption, a suitably qualified person to fill any worker absence, and each participant's needs and preferences to be documented and given to workers before they start working with them.
• The Management of medication outcome expects workers administering medication to understand its effects and side effects and what to do if something goes wrong, which relies on knowing what was given earlier.
• The Safe environment outcome expects escalation systems for urgent health situations and clear arrangements for how each participant shows emerging health concerns.
• The NDIS Code of Conduct requires every worker to provide supports safely and competently, with care and skill.

Auditors checking Practice Standards compliance often ask workers how they find out what happened on the previous shift. A consistent, written handover in an approved system is the easiest evidence to show.

Common mistakes

• "All good, nothing to report" when medication was declined or PRN was given.
• Handing over in a personal group chat or on scraps of paper instead of an approved, private system.
• Including opinions about participants or colleagues instead of facts.
• Actions with no owner, such as "someone should call the GP".
• Copying the whole progress note instead of highlighting what matters next.
• No written handover when shifts do not overlap, so the next worker starts blind.