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NEWS
MARCH, 2019// SENIORS
Early test for new boss Improved standards of aged care top of agenda
THE new Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner has a big job ahead of her, keeping watch over a rapidly changing sector as it provides vital services for older Australians, writes Jennifer Hullick. After the dire challenges faced by aged care service recipients and providers in recent years – with the Oakden nursing home tragedy at the forefront – the sector is undergoing major change across Australia, says new federal Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson. Anderson took up her position on January 2, at the head of the new national commission which replaces the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner and the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency. The commission’s purpose is to hold aged care service providers to account and to attend to recipients’ complaints. “Under our Act, we are required to ... enhance the safety, health, quality of life and wellbeing of aged care recipients,” Anderson said. “It’s making sure that aged care providers receiving Commonwealth subsidies are doing the job that is expected of them. “Those standards – which are about to change – set out as clearly as possible the way in which services need to be delivered, but more particularly the outcome being sought from the delivery of care.
AGED CARE ROYAL COMMISSION ❚ It’s been a baptism of fire for new Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson, with The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety opening in Adelaide on January 18 just two weeks after she started in the job ❚ Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Gray told the preliminary hearing that 54 per cent of submissions raised issues about unsafe care, while 59 per cent aired concerns about staffing ratios ❚ The first formal hearings of the Royal Commission were held in mid-February
The new Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson, is determined to ensure that aged care providers receiving government subsidies are meeting the standards expected of them. Photo: Britta Campion “My audit teams go into nursing homes and look at the home care services and make an assessment of the extent to which those services are compliant with the standards. “That’s a core function.” Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said the new commission would better target substandard care and work to ensure the safety of older Australians.
“A single commissioner overseeing compliance monitoring, complaints and customer service means no more silos,” Wyatt said. “For the first time, senior Australians and their loved ones have one place to go when they need help, want to raise a concern or access information about an aged care service. “The commission will also be empowered by the
new aged care Charter of Rights and will implement the new, stronger set of Aged Care Quality Standards, the first upgrade of standards in 20 years.” Speaking soon after taking on the new role, Anderson said she was optimistic about the future of the sector, with ongoing changes aimed at improving outcomes for older people. “We are also looking to
develop Consumer Experience Reports by home care recipients,” she said. The report system is an innovation recently introduced in nursing homes, which is revealing a raft of additional information previously unavailable to watchdog agencies or consumers. “If you go on our website, you can search by nursing home and find what the residents are
saying and their feedback on the care they are receiving,” Anderson said. “We haven’t yet introduced that for home care recipients but we are looking at the design ... so we can get the voice of the home care consumer as richly as we’ve now managed it for nursing home recipients.” Anderson said, in more than 90 per cent of cases, the commission had been able to achieve a resolution of consumer complaints to the agency. To fulfil its role, the commission has regional offices in every jurisdiction except the Northern Territory, which is serviced from Adelaide, with auditors making local visits to nursing homes and checking the standard of services from home care and home support providers.
Growing a fresh following at Toowoomba Show AS THE newest stewards at Toowoomba Royal Show, Robert and Sue Janetzki are determined to see things germinate, grow, blossom and bear fruit. And it’s not just because they have taken charge of the floriculture section. The long-time gardening enthusiast husband and wife duo, who only became involved in the show three years ago, have witnessed its improvement in that time and want to see entry numbers, quality and
appeal expand further. “We asked the exhibitors how we could improve things and they gave us a lot of different ideas,” Mrs Janetzki explained. That has included changing the schedule and the display to encourage younger visitors to see what can be grown on the Downs, with a water feature, lights and a soundtrack of birds and nature, as well as creating a better defined junior competition section.
New display tables and sponsorship have been gained, sausages sizzled for funds, and Sue said they had already told show CEO Damon Phillips they will need more room next year. They have about 40 entrants this year across cut flowers, potted plants (including their absolute love, bromeliads), natives, proteas and roses, and are keen to double that number. With many of the entrants like themselves
in the over-60s category, Mr Janetzki said it was important to get the next generation interested in horticulture so that species didn’t die out. Mr Phillips said about 15,000 entries were expected across the show’s 35 categories and, still focussing on horticulture, he was pleased to bring the ABC’s Costa Georgiadis of Gardening Australia and Paul West of River Cottage fame back to this year’s show. Horse and beef cattle numbers, he said, were
surprisingly well up again, despite Queensland’s extremes of drought and flood conditions. You will also find goats, show and working dogs, pigs, sheep, dairy cattle and poultry. While for those more interested in inside pursuits, there’s cooking, handicraft, art, mapping, photography, home-grown produce, crops and bread. Details and ticketing at toowoombashow.com.au /royal-show or phone (07) 4634 7400.
SHOW BUSINESS: Robert and Sue Janetzki are the newest stewards at Toowoomba Royal Show. Photo: Contributed