Aged Care Reforms Recently Passed In Parliament

An outline of the key aged care reforms, recently passed by Federal Parliament, and the number of reforms that need to come.

© Danielle Robertson Consulting Pty Ltd t/as DR Care Solutions

Today’s blog covers the key legislative reforms^[1] passed on 2^nd August 2022 in Parliament – the first major piece of legislation of the new Labor Government.

In presenting the reforms, I have divided them up into categories – home care, residential and overall aged care – so that you can quickly identify the reforms relevant to you. The Royal Commission recommendation^[2] relevant to each reform has also been referenced.

Home care

• The Serious Incident Response Scheme, currently in place for residential aged care, will be extended to home care and flexible care services from 1 December 2022.
  
  These new requirements will help to build provider capacity to record and respond to incidents; identify, manage and resolve risks; and formalise ways of ensuring continuous improvement in care practices that will reduce the number of preventable incidents in the future. (Recommendation 100)

Residential aged care

• Daily fees will be capped. (Recommendation 127)
  
  

• The presence of at least one nurse 24/7 in each residential aged care home by the 1 July 2023, with mechanisms in place to allow exemptions from this requirement. (Recommendation 86)
  
  

• An average of 200 minutes per day of care from a nurse or care worker by 1 October 2023, and an average of 215 minutes of care per day by 1 October 2024. (Recommendation 86)
  
  

• A star-ratings system, in place by the end of 2022, to help prospective residents gauge the quality of residential aged care homes they are considering to enter. (Recommendation 24)
  
  

• Interim arrangements will be introduced to obtain informed consent, from a person other than the care recipient, to use restrictive practices (such as chemical and physical restraints) where the care recipient does not have the capacity to do so. (Recommendation 17, adopted in part)
  
  

• More transparency around refundable deposits and accommodation bonds. This will increase oversight of how refundable accommodation deposits and bonds paid by residents are used by the residential aged care provider until they have been refunded, and ensures they are refunded. (Recommendation 140, adopted in part)
  
  

• Adoption of a new residential aged care subsidy scheme – the Australian National Aged Care Classification Model – from 1 October 2022 for calculating aged-care subsidies provided to residential aged care providers by the Commonwealth Government. (Recommendation 120)

Across both home care and residential aged care

• An updated Code of Conduct for everyone working in the sector; wider powers for the Commissioner for Aged Care Quality & Safety to issue banning orders to prevent unsuitable people, whether carers or approved providers, from working in the sector; for the Commissioner to maintain an up-to-date register of banned persons. (Recommendations 77 and 103)

• More governance responsibilities for approved providers. In particular, from 1 December 2022, the approved providers and their governing bodies must notify the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission of changes to key personnel and adopt a broader suitability test to the current ‘disqualified individual’ arrangements. (Recommendations 88 to 91)

• Greater information sharing across relevant Commonwealth bodies and, more immediately, increased information sharing by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Department of Health and Aged Care and the Department of Veterans' Affairs with other Commonwealth bodies. This will enable the sharing of information regarding providers and workers operating across the care and support sector who might be putting those receiving care, support or treatment at risk. (Recommendation 108)

• Expanding the functions of the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority to include the provision of advice on healthcare and aged-care pricing and costing. This will support transparent and evidence-based assessment of the costs involved in delivering aged care and support sustainability of aged care over the long term (Recommendation 115)

With these reforms being legislated, around 20% of the 148 recommendations put forward by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety have been addressed – we’ve still got a lot of ground to cover!

Seeking care for a loved one? Please feel free to call me, Danielle Robertson, for an initial discussion on how to set up the right care, support and assistance at the right time and in the right place.

Resources

^[1] DR Care Solutions: Parliament Moves On Aged Care Reforms - With More To Do!
^[2] Royal Commission Into Aged Care Quality and Safety Final Report listing 148 recommendations for reform