The journey to lift the standard of aged care in Australia began on 1 March 2021 when the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s final report was tabled in Parliament.
Since that time, the sector has been undergoing a significant reform program, with the past 12 months bringing a depth of change across the sector.
Some of these changes include:
• Introducing the 24/7 registered nurse responsibility, which means a registered nurse must be on-site and on duty in all aged care homes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Introducing a sector average of 200 mandatory care minutes per resident per day to make sure people living in aged care homes have their clinical and personal care needs met each day – this will increase from 1 October 2024 to 215 minutes
• Establishing a Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline, where older people in aged care homes, their families and carers can ask questions, get advice and make complaints about their food
• Introducing Star Ratings to help older people, their families and carers to more easily compare aged care homes and make informed choices
• Funding a 15% wage rise for more than 250,000 aged care workers, recognising the value of aged care workers and the important work they do
• Introducing face-to-face support in Services Australia service centres to help older people and their families and carers access the aged care system
• Ensuring specialisations on My Aged Care are independently verified to help older people from diverse groups choose an aged care provider best suited to their needs
• Expanding the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program with 6 additional quality indicators including consumer experience and quality of life of older people
• Introducing a Code of Conduct for Aged Care to help ensure that services are delivered to older people in a safe, competent and respectful manner.
At Leigh Place, we are excited to be at the forefront of quality aged care and service delivery, and we continue our more than 30 years of excellence.