QUALITY CARE AND WORKFORCE
RECOMMENDATIONS ON AGED CARE
ACCREDITATION PROCESSES SIGNAL POTENTIAL CHANGE
Carnell/Paterson review calls for major overhaul to strengthen aged care system and build on good regulatory practice.
T
he October 2017 report stemming from the review of national aged care quality regulatory processes has a pedigree that dates back to then-South Australian Chief Psychiatrist Aaron Groves’ 2016 investigation of quality of care issues at South Australia’s Oakden Older Persons Mental Health Service.
4. The Aged Care Commission will implement a star-rated system for public reporting of provider performance.
The service—which has since closed—was a state government-run facility with full accreditation from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (AACQA).
7. Aged care standards will limit the use of restrictive practices in residential aged care.
Off the back of the Groves’ report which revealed systemic abuse and patient neglect, the federal government appointed public administrator Kate Carnell AO and international healthcare quality expert Professor Ron Paterson ONZM to review the overarching regulatory processes AACQA administers and to determine why and how Oakden was cleared for accreditation. The independent reviewers’ subsequent report—Review of National Aged Care Quality Regulatory Processes 2017 (Carnell/Paterson Review report)—offers 10 recommendations, some of which have been influenced by the Australian Law Reform Commission report Elder Abuse – A National Legal Response. The Carnell/Paterson Review report is available on the Department of Health website at https://agedcare.health. gov.au/quality/review-of-national-aged-care-qualityregulatory-processes. The 10 recommendations the reviewers list for the government consideration are: 1. Establish an independent Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to centralise accreditation, compliance and complaints handling. 2. The Aged Care Commission will develop and manage a centralised database for real-time information sharing. 3. All residential aged care services in receipt of Commonwealth funding must participate in the National Quality Indicators Program.
5. The Aged Care Commission will support consumers and their representatives to exercise their rights. 6. Enact a serious incident response scheme (SIRS) for aged care.
8. Ongoing accreditation, with unannounced visits, to assure safety and quality of residential aged care. 9. Ongoing accreditation, with unannounced visits, to assure safety and quality of residential aged care. 10. Enhance complaints handling. It is clear that if implemented, the recommendations would constitute a major change to the aged care sector’s system of quality accreditation. So far, the Minister for Aged Care, the Hon Ken Wyatt has foreshadowed the implementation of recommendation eight: all future accreditation visits to residential aged care will be unannounced, except the initial accreditation visit. However AACQA has always had the option of conducting an unannounced visit if it had a concern about a facility.
LASA’s initial observations about the Carnell/Paterson Review report Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) is concerned that the recommendations of Carnell/Paterson Report do not clearly identify the agencies responsible for the failures in care at Oakden. A key problem for the Oakden facility was not with the accreditation principles and processes. Rather, AACQA failed to apply these principles and processes properly. LASA is of the view that as part of the government’s response to the report AACQA should be held accountable for its performance. The South Australian Government as the operator of the facility should also be held accountable for the failures at Oakden. Continued page 20
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