News

On 1 January 2020, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission) became responsible for approval of providers, aged care compliance and compulsory reporting which were previously the responsibility of the Secretary of the Department of Health. This includes monitoring of Prudential Standards. This transfer of statutory responsibilities from the Department provides the Commission with a broader range of regulatory functions and powers to oversee the provision of care by providers of Commonwealth-funded aged care services.

The Commission has prepared a summary of Key Changes to Commission Rules. Amendments to the Commission Rules were implemented in late 2019 to support the transition of regulatory functions.

The amendments focus on the following key outcomes:

• integrate and remove duplication in the management of non-compliance with the Aged Care Quality Standards (Quality Standards)
• establish a regulatory framework with graduated and escalating responses to non-compliance
• streamline existing performance assessment processes, providing greater clarity to consumers and transparency of decision making for providers.

The Commission has also updated key information in the following Regulatory bulletins:

• Assessment contacts in residential and home services
• Non-compliance with the Aged Care Quality Standards
• Aged Care Quality Standards performance assessment methodology
• Regulatory decision making

Read more:

Key regulatory changes in aged care services

Regulatory Strategy (.pdf)

Key changes for providers from 1 January 2020 – Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Rules (.pdf)

Key changes for providers from 1 January 2020 – Accreditation and re-accreditation (.pdf)

Key changes for providers from 1 January 2020 – Timetable for improvement (.pdf)

Key changes for providers from 1 January 2020 – Assessment contacts (.pdf)

Key changes for providers from 1 January 2020 – Quality reviews (.pdf)

Key changes for providers from 1 January 2020 – Review audits (.pdf)

Key changes for providers from 1 January 2020 – Serious risk (.pdf)

Regulatory Bulletin – Assessment contacts in residential and home services (.docx)

Regulatory Bulletin – Responding to non-compliance with the Aged Care Quality Standards (.docx)

Regulatory Bulletin – Aged Care Quality Standards performance assessment methodology (.docx)

Regulatory Bulletin – Regulatory decision making (.docx)

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission handles a range of complaints every day. Some of these complaint issues can be handled solely by us, while others may need to be referred to another organisation. We work closely with a number of organisations to ensure that your concerns are handled correctly, by the people best placed to deal with them.

There are five organisations we refer complaint information to when required:

1. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
2. Coroner
3. Department of Health
4. Police
5. Health Complaints Entities

Read more:

Referrals to other organisations fact sheet (.pdf)

Under section 9-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997 approved providers are required to notify the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner of any change of circumstance that materially affects their suitability to be a provider of aged care.

Read more:

Notification of a material change form (.docx)

Watch this short video to hear Hazel Hawke’s daughter, Sue Pieters-Hawke, talk about the effect that reducing her mother’s medication had on her quality of life.

Sue and others are speaking in support of the Reducing Use of Sedatives (RedUSe) program. This was a Government funded initiative, developed and trialled initially in Tasmania in 2008, and expanded nationally from 2014 – 2016.

It promotes quality and appropriate use of sedatives, in particular antipsychotics and benzodiazepines, in residential aged care services in Australia, and assists with reducing use of these medications whenever possible.

The Commission, with Dr Juanita Breen who developed the program with the Wicking Institute and University of Tasmania, has now trained a small cohort of well credentialled and experienced pharmacists to implement RedUSe. These pharmacists will begin visiting aged care services in remote and very remote locations early in 2020 to offer training and support in reducing the use of sedatives in their services.

Watch:

Reducing the use of sedatives – video

An effective approach to decrease antipsychotic and benzodiazepine use in nursing homes: the RedUSe project (.pdf)

The RedUSe Executive Summary (.pdf)

The Chair of the Royal Commission into the Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Honourable Gaetano Pagone QC, has today issued the following statement:

Public concern has been expressed about statements made by the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians that we had decided to support the privatisation of the Aged Care Assessment Teams in our Interim Report. I take this opportunity to make clear that the Interim Report did not endorse the Government’s stated position but noted that we would monitor with interest the implementation which the Government had announced. The Interim Report stated at p137 as follows:

Mr Tune’s Report raised concerns about the timeliness, quality and consistency of the assessment process under My Aged Care. He recommended a more rigorous and integrated assessment model, with the first step being the amalgamation of Regional Assessment Services with Aged Care Assessment Teams, and later incorporation of the residential care assessment function which sets personal funding levels, and is currently undertaken by providers. The Government has announced that it will implement this recommendation and will integrate the two assessment workforces from 2020. The Royal Commission considers that this integration needs to be progressed urgently. We will, therefore, maintain a continued interest in these developments and will monitor their progress; we will make recommendations as necessary in the Final Report.

Read more:

Statement by Royal Commission Chair on ACAT privatisation

The Australian Government is providing an additional 576,000 P2 masks to South Australia, Tasmania and Australian Defence Force personnel to support bushfire-affected communities.

An additional 505,000 masks have been reserved for New South Wales and 505,600 masks have been reserved for Victoria, following a request from these states.

The Government has already provided more than a million masks to New South Wales, 455,400 to Victoria, 416,000 to the ACT, 19,200 to Australia Post, and 3,000 to the Australian Federal Police.

This brings the total number of P2 masks provided and reserved so far to almost 3.5 million.

Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, said the Government had made more masks available from the national stockpile to ensure the safety of people in bushfire-affected communities.

Read more:

Number of P2 masks provided for bushfires almost 3.5 million

A Request for Tender is now open seeking a training strategy for assessors under the proposed Australian National – Aged Care Classification (AN – ACC) funding model.

A supplier is sought to scope the training that could be required for a national AN – ACC assessment workforce. No decision on the future of residential aged care funding reform has been made.

Tenderers with registration through Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency and/or Australian Skills Quality Authority will be preferred.

Read more:

Residential Aged Care Funding Reform – Assessor Training Strategy – Request for Tender open

Training strategy for assessors under the proposed Australian National – Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model

As an approved provider you have an important role to ensure that care recipients continue to receive quality care during and after emergency events by being well prepared for any events that might impact your service. Providers are required under the Aged Care Act 1997 to continue to maintain quality care and services to care recipients.

Home Care Packages providers are required to have plans in place for the management of emergency events.

After an emergency event you should:

• when safe, provide advice to the department in your state about the impact of the event on your service and care recipients, including alternative arrangements put in place
• keep staff, volunteers and care recipients well informed during an emergency situation
• assess the impact of the event on your service and care recipients and take steps to recommence all services as soon as possible
• liaise with and request assistance as required from local agencies providing recovery and other relevant services
• review and amend your risk management plans, as needed.

Read more:

Home Care providers in affected bushfire areas

Home Care Service – Preparing for an Emergency Event (.pdf)

The Australian Government has, for the first time, deployed Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) specialists in a domestic setting to provide medical support to people evacuated from bushfire-affected communities.

The eight specialists – two doctors, two nurses, two paramedics and two logisticians – have been deployed to RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria to provide immediate clinical and logistical assistance to evacuees, and to assess the need for additional medical and health support services.

The Acting Australian Government Chief Medical Officer is in discussions with other jurisdictions about whether there is a need for additional AUSMAT specialists to be deployed.

The specialists positioned in East Sale will work closely with Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services and Defence personnel, to ensure their work complements that being conducted by medical staff already on site.

Read more:

Medical support from AUSMAT for bushfire evacuees

The department advises residential care providers that where a residential aged care facility is operating as an approved provider and taking people into aged care respite, the provider can apply for emergency approval under Section 22-5(2) of the Aged Care Act 1997. As per current requirements, the provider will need to submit an Application for Care form to their local ACAT within five business days after the day on which the care started.

The department appreciates that service providers may currently face delays in submitting these applications due to experiencing bush fire related constraints. The department reassures providers that where they are unable to submit the Application for Care form to their local ACAT within five business days, the provider can, as soon as practicable, apply for an extension (as required under Section 22-5(3) of the Act) with the reason for the delay (ie “bush fire related emergency”) advised to the ACAT at the time of requesting the extension.

Read more:

Emergency approval applications from residential care providers for residential respite during bushfire emergencies