In this issue:
• Summary page in the My Aged Care portals
• Charter of Aged Care Rights – educational activities
Home Care:
• Home Care Pricing compliance monitoring
Residential Care:
• Multi-Purpose Services – Residential Flexible Places Allocations Round is now open
• National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program – First quarter data collection and the introduction of 2 New Quality Indicators
• Residential Aged Care Funding Reform update
Read more:
The Royal Commission into Aged Care has announced the release of its first research paper.
The research paper, titled, How Australian residential aged care staffing levels compare with international and national benchmarks, was prepared by Australian Health Services Research Institute at the University of Wollongong.
Read more:
4 Hearings are currently upcoming:
Melbourne Hearing 2 – Diversity in aged care
Melbourne hearing 2 will inquire into diversity in aged care, including culturally and linguistically diverse people, LGBTI groups, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, care leavers, veterans, and the homeless or those at risk of homelessness.
• Date: 7 – 9 October and 11 October 2019
• Location: Commonwealth Law Courts Building, 305 William St, Melbourne VIC 3000
• Time: 9:30am local time
Melbourne Hearing 3 – Aged care workforce
Melbourne hearing 3 will inquire into the aged care workforce, with a focus on how to enhance capacity and how to make the aged care sector a more attractive and rewarding place to work.
• Date: 14 – 18 October 2019
• Location: Commonwealth Law Courts Building, 305 William St, Melbourne VIC 3000
• Time: 9:30am local time
Mudgee Hearing – Provision of aged care in regional areas
The Mudgee Hearing will inquire into arrangements for and issues associated with the provision of aged care services in regional areas, including Multi-Purpose Services. The Hearing will have a particular focus on aged care services in the Mudgee region.
• Date: 4 – 6 November 2019
• Location: TBC
• Time: 9:30am local time
Hobart Hearing – Aged care operations of selected Approved Providers
The Hobart Hearing will inquire into the operations of selected Approved Providers that operate residential aged care facilities in Tasmania and elsewhere in Australia.
• Date: 11 – 15 November 2019
• Location: TBC
• Time: 9:30am local time
Read more:
The Australian Retirement Village Accreditation Scheme (ARVAS) will be the new exclusive accreditation scheme for retirement village and seniors housing operators.
ARVAS is co-owned by two organisations that represent the owners and operators of retirement villages and seniors housing: Property Council of Australia and Leading Age Services Australia (LASA).
ARVAS replaces two previous schemes, Lifemark and International Retirement Community Accreditation Scheme (IRCAS). The ARVAS Standards, currently in draft and published for industry consultation and feedback comprise seven quality areas:
• Standard 1 – Community Management – The Community is managed efficiently and effectively; the manager is a positive and proactive leader of the team with a strong customer service orientation.
• Standard 2 – Human Resource Management – Employment management practices ensure that the quality and quantity of staff are sufficient to meet operational needs.
• Standard 3 – Resident Entry and Exit – Processes for managing resident entry and exit are effective and focus on a positive resident experience.
• Standard 4 – Resident Engagement and Feedback – Engages residents effectively.
• Standard 5 – Environment, Services and Facilities – The environment, service and facilities are managed in accordance with contractual obligations and managed effectively.
• Standard 6 – Safety and Security – Processes for managing safety and security are effective.
• Standard 7 – Resident Care (where applicable) – Residents receive safe, high quality care consistent with their needs and preferences.
Read more:
Australian Retirement Village Accreditation Scheme (ARVAS) Standards
The trial is expected to start in late 2019 and run until mid-2020. It will:
• test the AN-ACC assessment tool and supporting software, hardware and IT systems
• test the processes to manage an assessment workforce, and
• confirm findings about the expected distribution of resident classifications.
Approved providers were invited to participate in the trial through an Expression of Interest process. Assessment delivery partners were recently sought through an open Request For Tender.
The department is developing a sampling strategy to ensure the trial provides representative coverage of regions and types of facilities, and will advise approved providers of the outcome after we engage the assessment partners.
Read more:
Residential aged care funding reform
Residential Aged Care Funding Reform Trial: Factsheet (.pdf)
Global accounting and advisory firm, Grant Thornton released its ‘Perspectives on the Future of Ageing and Age Services in Australia’ report, having formally submitted the report to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The report is the result of independently facilitated workshops with 121 CEOs and executives from 112 age services providers from a national cross-section of for-profit, not-for-profit and government providers.
Led by Grant Thornton in partnership with Leading Age Services Australia, this is the first time a cross-section of the sector has come together on this scale to discuss many of the “wicked problems” being faced by the sector now and into the future.
Providers consistently expressed concern over their ability to support the increasing number of people requiring age services, as well as highlighting opportunities to improve the connections between the entire healthcare system to ensure a continuum of quality and timely care.
Read more:
Perspectives on the Future of Ageing and Age Services in Australia (.pdf)
LASA – Key insights and reflections on Future of Ageing and Age Services Workshops (.pdf)
What is the impact of the law on aged care providers generally?
The protection from discrimination in this Bill applies in relation to a range of areas, including employment, the provision of goods and services, and the provision of accommodation. If the law is implemented as the Bill currently drafted, some of the impacts are as follows:
• Most States and Territories currently allow an organisation to implement “special measures” to remedy substantive inequality for a particular minority. That may include a provider only providing services to members of a religious group, or providing preferential services to members of that group. If the Bill is passed in its current form, these types of special measures would arguably infringe the new Federal law.
• Staff members who make discriminatory statements which are grounded in religious beliefs will be protected from discrimination claims unless the statements are malicious, or likely to harass, vilify or incite hatred or violence against a person. By extension, that means that aged care providers will not be vicariously liable for the statements of those staff.
• In New South Wales and South Australia it will become unlawful to refuse to provide services to people based on religion, or to impose different conditions on the provision of services to people because of their religion.
Read more:
The Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 and Aged Care Providers
To help providers understand issues and their responsibilities around minimising the use of physical and/or chemical restraint, the Commission has released the following:
• Scenarios involving physical and/or chemical restraint
The scenarios consist of a range of case examples to help providers understand issues around the use of physical and chemical restraint. All the scenarios are intended to be illustrative only, and are not to be relied upon as authority. Providers should be mindful of their obligations under the Quality of Care Principles 2014, and pay careful attention to the legislative requirements to minimise the use of restraint when applying those obligations to real-life situations.
Each scenario deals with specific circumstances of a consumer and explores whether the provider’s response can be defined as a chemical or physical restraint. There is also an explanation of what kind of ongoing assessment and monitoring is required, as well as the need for documentation and the seeking of consent.
Read more:
Scenarios involving physical and/or chemical restraint (.pdf)
In Case You Missed It – Below are links to recent articles on Aged Care and Healthcare that may be of interest:
Sweet advice from aged care residents to the younger generation
Medication reviews identify up to four problems per resident
120,000 older Australians waiting for a home care package
Government data shows residential aged care providers in ‘turmoil’
‘I’m not a nurse’, Earle Haven boss says
Millions of Australians’ sensitive medical images, data left openly accessible
Bupa Eden aged care resident defends facility saying ‘poor management doesn’t mean bad care’
Listed providers doing ‘better than average’
One in seven GPs work in aged care
Nurse Banned After Convincing Resident To Sign Over His $1.5m Estate To Her
Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, community meetings held
Provider CEOs share aged care recruitment tips
Govt begins search for future My Health Record provider
Doctors and nurses join forces to demand action to fix aged care
Volunteers line up to test funding tool
Aged care groups welcome AMA, ANMF call for urgent action on residential care
In this edition:
• New Commissioner appointed
• Nutrition in Aged Care
• A reporter’s view of the Royal Commission
• Hearings update
• Community forum round up
Read more:
Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety – Newsletter – Issue 3 – October 2019 (.pdf)
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