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NEW Aged Care Code of Conduct:
The Code of Conduct for Aged Care has been introduced to improve the safety, health, wellbeing and quality of life of people who receive aged care, and to boost trust in services.
Applies from December 2022, the Code covers approved providers of residential, home and flexible care. (It doesn’t apply to CHSP & NATSIFACP as they are approved providers under the Aged Care Act)
Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) in Home Care and Flexible Care
The SIRS is already in place for residential aged care, and from Dec 2022, it also applies to home care and flexible care.
Providers are required to review their Incident Management System (IMS) to ensure that it can still effectively manage and prevent incidents.
There are 8 types of reportable incidents under SIRS:
- Unreasonable use of force – like kicking, punching or rough handling
- Unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct – like stalking, making sexual advances or unwanted sexual touching
- Psychological or emotional abuse – like yelling, name-calling or ignoring
- Stealing or financial coercion by a staff member – like stealing money or pressuring you to give money
- Neglect – like not giving you the care you need to stay well
- Inappropriate use of restrictive practices – like using physical force or medication to restrict your freedom or movement
- Unexplained absence from care / missing consumers – where a care recipient goes missing
- Unexpected death – like someone dying unexpectedly because they did not receive proper care and services
Star Ratings System in Residential Aged Care homes.
The system is based on an overall star rating from one to five that is measured against 4-sub-categories:
- Compliance
- Quality Measures
- Residents’ Experience
- Staffing
(Example of Star Ratings on My Aged Care website)
Aged Care provider Governance
Additional responsibilities will commence on 1 December 2023 for providers approved before 1 December 2022.
Effective governance and leadership are vital for ensuring the safety and quality of aged care and positive consumer experiences. The Aged Care Act and Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act have been amended to strengthen the governance arrangements of approved providers. These introduce specific changes aimed at:
- Improving leadership and culture (access free culture-supporting services: Keys 2 Diversity for Aged Care)
- Increasing transparency and accountability.
The new responsibilities align with (and are in addition to) the organisational requirements in Standard 8 of the Quality Standards as well as elements of Standards 6 and 7. They apply to approved providers of residential, home and flexible care including short-term restorative care, multi-purpose services and transition care.
Aged Care Quality Standards
