Rate 8 daily activities. You will get a plain-English picture of their situation and specific language to use when calling My Aged Care, the NHS, or any assessment service.
This isn't saved anywhere automatically — it's a one-off, private assessment. Print your summary at the end if you want to keep it or hand it to someone.
"Does Mum need help?" is almost impossible to act on — it's too vague. But "can she safely manage her own medications," "can she get to appointments," or "can she cook a meal" are questions with real, specific answers. Rating concrete, everyday tasks turns a vague worry into a clear picture: a bit of extra help, daily visits, or full-time care. That picture is what informs everything that follows — how many home care hours to ask for, whether a residential facility needs to be part of the conversation, and exactly what to say when you call an assessment service.
This kind of task-by-task approach is based on the same general categories used in two long-established clinical frameworks. The Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Katz ADL) looks at six basic self-care tasks: eating, continence, transferring (for example, moving from bed to chair), toileting, dressing, and bathing. The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale (Lawton IADL) covers eight more complex, independent-living tasks: using the telephone, shopping, food preparation, housekeeping, laundry, transportation, managing one's own medications, and handling finances.
This page helps you think it through — it is not a clinical assessment and does not replace one. A doctor, occupational therapist, or accredited assessor is who actually determines the level of care someone needs.
Source: Katz S, et al. "Studies of Illness in the Aged: The Index of ADL." JAMA, 1963 — the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living. Lawton MP, Brody EM. "Assessment of Older People: Self-Maintaining and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living." The Gerontologist, 1969 — the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale.
Rate each activity based on what they can actually do now — not what they used to do, and not on a good day. Be honest. This tool is most useful when it reflects reality.
This tool gives you a framework for thinking and talking about the situation. It is not a clinical assessment. A formal assessment by My Aged Care (AU), your GP and local authority (UK), or a geriatrician is needed to access funded services. Get your action plan →