As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, presenting ongoing risks to older Australians receiving aged care, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission) is constantly reassessing its regulatory response to ensure it remains fit for purpose.
In the last few months, the Commission has further refined regulatory processes and is closely monitoring providers to hold them to account for the delivery of safe, quality care to aged care consumers during the current Omicron wave. Key features of our approach to maintaining a strong regulatory response specifically in the context of COVID-19 include:
• undertaking more infection prevention and control monitoring spot checks at individual aged care services where there is an increased risk of a COVID-19 outbreak
• continuing to conduct site visits to residential services to support and ensure provider outbreak readiness
• resolving complaints, and engaging more closely with services where concerns have been raised about the impact of COVID-19 on care
• proactively contacting providers to ensure they have an outbreak management plan that is continually reviewed and updated
• continuing to assess and investigate serious incident notifications related to COVID-19
• holding providers to account by taking compliance and enforcement action wherever necessary
• using intelligence from spot checks, complaints, incidents and other sources to understand risks associated with COVID-19 and effectively target regulatory activities
• developing and promoting best practice outbreak management resources to the sector.
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