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Aged Care Placement Services
Aged Care Reform Bill (2022)
The Aged Care Amendment Bill 2022 was introduced into the House of Representatives on 27 July 2022 and subsequently referred to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee on 28 July 2022. The Senate Committee is due to report by 31 August 2022. Further Updates will be provided at that date.
The purpose of the Bill is to “effect meaningful changes to the delivery of aged care services and the means for care recipients and their families to assess the relative quality of service delivery by care providers and at individual care facilities”.
This reform introduces a new responsibility for aged care providers to ensure that at least one registered nurse is on duty at all times.
Exemptions will be available but there is no detail yet on how these exemptions will apply.
Many nursing homes already have at least one RN on site 24/7
Some States already require at least one RN on site 24/7
From the above information, the ANMF estimates that just over 750 registered nurses would be needed to ensure at least 1 RN on site 24/7 in every nursing home.
The 2020 aged care workforce census reported that 239 nursing homes roster a registered nurse on call but not on duty on site. This means there is capacity for increasing the number of RNs in nursing homes to 24/7 from the existing registered nursing workforce.
More than 80% of RNs working in aged care currently work part time. In surveys conducted for the Royal Commission, a majority of ANMF members working in aged care indicated they would work more hours if they were offered by their employer. This means there is capacity for increasing the number of RNs in nursing homes to 24/7 from the existing registered nursing workforce.
Several hundred nursing graduates are unable to find secure meaningful employment each year. This means there is capacity for increasing the number of RNs in nursing homes to 24/7 from the existing registered nursing workforce
The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) welcomes that mandating registered nurses in aged care 24/7 has been one of the first pieces of legislation put forward during the first sitting of the new Parliament.
However, they have urged the measure to be supported by a range of other measures ensuring there is a sustainable and highly educated workforce of aged care nurses caring for Australians for generations to come. “It is pleasing to see the broad-ranging impact of nurse leadership on the health of our most vulnerable recognised in one of the first acts of the new Government,” ACN CEO Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN
This requirement is expected to start on 1 July 2023.
This reform requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care to publish information relating to aged care services. This reform also empowers the Minister to tell the Secretary what kind of information should be published.
This reform does not directly affect aged care providers and does not require providers to collect or disclose information. However, providers should expect that in the near future the Department of Health and Aged Care will use the powers granted by this reform to publish information about aged care providers such as:
The new Government is delivering on their election commitment to improve transparency in the aged care system, with the Bill introducing measures to monitor the costs associated with aged care, placing greater responsibility on providers to be transparent and fair.
This will see the publication of more information about providers’ operations including what they are spending money on.
The legislation also delivers on the election commitment to stop the rorting of Home Care fees, by placing a cap on how much can be charged in administration and management fees.
This means home care users can be confident their money is going directly to care – not the bottom line of providers.
Expected to start on 1 December 2022.
This reform facilitates the shift from the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) to the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC), which will start on 1 October 2022. The move to AN-ACC was a 2021-2022 Budget initiative of the previous Government. Most aged care providers will be familiar with the transitional arrangements that the Department of Health and Ageing has implemented over the course of this year to help providers with the shift from ACFI to AN-ACC.
Expected to start in October 2022.
This reform introduces a new requirement for the Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care to publish information with respect to the new Star Ratings system. These amendments require the Secretary to publish information about the quality of aged care provided by residential aged care services as well as the performance of approved providers of those services in relation to responsibilities and standards under the Aged Care Act.
Aged Care Homes will be given a rating from one to five stars based on four factors:
“Publishing Star Ratings for residential aged care homes will help people meaningfully compare services to make the right choice for themselves or their loved ones” Anika Wells (Aged Care Minister).
Expected to start in October 2022.
This reform requires aged care providers to comply with a Code of Conduct. It will also give the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner power to take action in relation to compliance with, and enforcement of, the Code of Conduct. The reform will also give the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner power to ban a person from working as an aged care provider or aged care worker.
Expected to start on 1 December 2022.
This reform aims to facilitate greater information sharing between Commonwealth bodies across the aged care, disability and veterans’ affairs sectors. It also facilitates information sharing with worker screening units in relation to non-compliance with the Code of Conduct by approved providers and their workers and governing persons.
Expected to start in October 2022.
This reform enables the Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care or the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner to request information or documents from an aged care provider or borrower of a loan made using a refundable accommodation deposit or bond. The amendments create an offence for a borrower who does not comply with a request. They also extend the period of liability for the existing offences for the misuse of refundable accommodation deposits, and prior to an insolvency event, for both providers and key personnel of providers, from two to five years.
Expected to start on 1 December 2022.
Prior to the election, Labor pledged to introduce a mandatory 200 minutes of care time per resident per day to commence in October 2023, rising to a mandatory 215 minutes from October 2024. This reform is not mentioned directly in this Bill. However, in a document that was attached to the Bill, the Government said that it will be making these reforms soon.
This reform aims to improve the governance of approved providers. It introduces new governance responsibilities for approved providers in relation to the membership of their governing bodies and the establishment of new advisory bodies, as well as measures to improve leadership and culture.
It also introduces new reporting responsibilities for approved providers, which aim to help care recipients and their families to better understand the operations of providers. These measures are aimed at improving transparency and accountability.
Expected to commence on 1 December 2022.
This reform revises the strengthened arrangements on the use of restrictive practices that startd on 1 July 2021, in response to unexpected outcomes in relation to the interaction with state and territory guardianship and consent laws. The amendments introduce interim arrangements to address this issue until state and territory laws can be amended. The amendments also allow for the Quality of Care Principles to make further provision for the giving of informed consent to the use of restrictive practices where a care recipient does not have capacity to consent, including where state and territory laws do not clearly provide for a person to consent to the use of restrictive practices.
Expected to start in October 2022.
This reform expands the functions of a renamed Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (Pricing Authority) to include the provision of advice on health care pricing and costing matters, provision of advice on aged care pricing and costing matters, and the performance of certain functions conferred in the Aged Care Act. The amendments also establish new governance arrangements for the Pricing Authority to reflect the enhanced responsibilities and integrated functions of the Pricing Authority.
Expected to start in October 2022.