Month: January 2022

Published by: Victor Harcourt, Solomon Miller, Anita Courtney, Connor Farrell

As part of the federal government’s response to the Aged Care Royal Commission, a second update of legislative amendments have been proposed. The Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021 (the Bill), which passed through the House of Representatives last year, will make changes to eight key areas, including the governance of approved providers (APs), the screening of aged care workers and governing persons of APs, a new code of conduct, and the extension of incident management and reporting.

While the Bill, if passed, will make changes to a wide range of areas, this article focuses only on the proposed changes to the governance requirements relating to the governing bodies and key personnel of APs as well as new powers of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner (Commissioner) to request information relating to refundable deposits or accommodation bonds (RADs) used to make loans.

Read more:

New governance and accountability requirements for approved providers

The department has developed additional fact sheets to help providers of Assistance with Care and Housing, Sector Support and Development and Specialised Support Services understand and prepare for the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) 2022 23 extension and transition to the Support at Home Program from 1 July 2023.

These fact sheets will be distributed to providers shortly as part of their indicative letter of offer for the 2022 23 extension.

The fact sheets are now also published on the department’s website:

• CHSP fact sheet – Assistance with Care and Housing providers
• CHSP fact sheet – Sector Support and Development providers
• CHSP fact sheet – Specialised Support Services providers

Read more:

Aged Care Alert: CHSP 2022-23 extension: Fact sheets available

CHSP fact sheet – Assistance with Care and Housing providers (.pdf)

CHSP fact sheet – Sector Support and Development providers (.pdf)

CHSP fact sheet – Specialised Support Services providers (.pdf)

NSW Health released new guidance for testing protocols for NSW residential aged care facilities (RACFs) with a COVID-19 outbreak or exposure. The purpose of the protocol is to provide a clear framework for testing requirements.

NSW Health may provide specific testing directions for COVID-19 exposures or outbreaks in residential aged care. However, the testing protocol provides a guidance framework to support RACFs to actively self-manage their testing requirements.

Consistent with the recent National Cabinet decision in relation to PCR testing requirements, the testing protocol makes recommendations in relation to both PCR testing and Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT).

Read more:

NSW Health releases new guidance for COVID testing protocols in RACFs

NSW Health – Protocol for RAT and PCR testing in residential aged care

Key information on some of this evolving work is set out below:

• Booster clinics for residential aged care
• Updated interim guidance for the aged care workforce
• PPE and Rapid Antigen Tests for outbreak sites
• Update on SONIC testing services
• Reporting on workers’ booster shots to become mandatory

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Protecting Older Australians: COVID-19 Update – 7 January 2022

Applications are open for the Business Improvement Fund Round 2 through GrantConnect.

To be eligible, providers must include independent business advice as part of their application either from:

• our free, independent and confidential Business Advisory Service, apply by 21 January 2022, or
• another business advisory service.

Alternatively, outcomes from the department’s Aged Care Financial Monitoring and Business Assistance team can be used.

Read more:

Aged Care Alert: Business Improvement Fund Round 2 – include independent advice

The Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, has approved an interim framework to support safe assessment and decision making when determining whether to place work restrictions on residential aged care workers. The framework supports decisions based on the context of the exposure low-risk (social contact), high-risk (household or household like), and workplace exposure.

This guidance follows the updated advice on the definition of contacts issued by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (here). The changes should assist in managing workforce, noting the challenges many providers are facing given the increasing number of cases in the community.

Read more:

Update – Interim Guidance on managing workforce in regards to COVID-19 in residential aged care facilities