Australia’s new Aged Care Act and Support at Home Program position restorative care as a rights based approach focused on maintaining and rebuilding function. Despite strong policy emphasis, restorative care continues to be variably defined and inconsistently implemented across the system, limiting its effectiveness and sustainability. This inconsistency reflects a broader problem: restorative care is often treated as a discrete service rather than a clinical and organisational capability requiring appropriate workforce, governance and integration. Without clear operationalisation, providers and systems risk implementing restorative care in ways that fail to meet policy intent or support meaningful outcomes for older people. This presentation provides an overview of the key components required to operationalise high quality restorative care under current reform settings. It explores why multidisciplinary practice, goal directed care, early intervention and professional governance are central to success. The session pays particular attention to the role of occupational therapy, highlighting how occupational therapists’ whole person focus across physical, cognitive, psychosocial and environmental domains enables restorative care to function as intended. Drawing on practice based examples and policy frameworks, the presentation will outline how restorative care capability can be strengthened through workforce configuration, clinical leadership and service design.