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Tag: Aged Care Quality Standards

Get ready for the revised Aged Care Quality Standards

Posted on by Claire Montague

Reforms to the aged care sector continue, with the recent release of a consultation draft of the revised Aged Care Quality Standards (‘Quality Standards’). The new Quality Standards have some key differences compared to the existing standards – they are significantly more detailed, and represent a move away from the higher-level approach of the existing standards. There is definitely a lot for providers to take in, so let us help you get up to speed with our overview of the key changes.

Why are the Quality Standards changing?

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found that the existing Quality Standards are not sufficiently ‘comprehensive, rigorous and detailed’.

The Royal Commission identified specific areas of improvement for the Quality Standards, including the need to:

  • reflect the needs of people with dementia;
  • better recognise diversity and improve cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people;
  • strengthen requirements in relation to governance and human resources;
  • describe more detailed requirements relating to food and nutrition; and
  • improve clinical care.

The revisions to the Quality Standards were also informed by engagement with the sector, an independent review, and comparison with existing standards for health care and disability support – the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards, and the NDIS Practice Standards.

What will the new Quality Standards look like?

Standard 1: The Person

Standard 1 focuses on important concepts including dignity and respect, older person individuality and diversity, independence, and culturally safe care.

The new Standard 1 remains fairly similar to existing Standard 1: Consumer dignity and choice in the current Quality Standards, with a focus on the older person.

Outcomes

  • Person-centred care
  • Dignity, respect and privacy
  • Choice, independence and quality of life
  • Transparency and agreements

Standard 2: The Organisation

Standard 2 is intended to hold the governing body responsible for fulfilling the requirements of the Quality Standards and delivering safe and quality care. Standard 2 goes into more detail than the current standards by itemising more requirements for systems that providers should have in place (including requirements regarding partnering with older people, accountability and quality systems, workforce planning, and emergency and disaster management).

Outcomes

  • Partnering with older people
  • Quality and safety culture
  • Accountability and quality systems
  • Risk management
  • Incident management
  • Feedback and complaints management
  • Information management
  • Workforce planning
  • Human resource management
  • Emergency and disaster management

Standard 3: The Care and Services

Standard 3 describes the way providers must deliver care and services. It sets out more detailed requirements regarding how providers assess each older person’s needs, goals and preferences, document this in a care plan and use this to inform the way care is delivered. Standard 3 includes a new requirement that providers implement a system for caring for people living with dementia.

Outcomes

  • Assessment and planning
  • Delivery of care and services
  • Communicating for safety and quality
  • Coordination of care and services

Standard 4: The Environment

Standard 4 focuses on the physical environment, which must be clean, safe and comfortable and enable freedom of movement for older people. Standard 4 also sets out requirements regarding infection prevention and control systems.

Outcomes

  • Environment and equipment at home
  • Environment and equipment in a service environment
  • Infection prevention and control

Standard 5: Clinical Care

Standard 5 describes the responsibilities of providers, with respect to the delivery of clinical care. Standard 5 articulates more detailed and technical requirements for clinical care compared with the existing standards, including in areas such as technical nursing, advance care planning, continence, falls and mental health. This standard was developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and aligns with the NSQHS Standards.

This standard will apply to providers delivering clinical care, whether it is in an older person’s home or a residential environment.

Outcomes

  • Clinical governance
  • Preventing and managing infections in clinical care
  • Medication safety
  • Comprehensive care
  • Care at the end life

Standard 6: Food and Nutrition

Standard 6 sets out requirements regarding what older people can expect of the food and drink they are provided in residential care services. It includes the requirement that food and drink is appetising, nutritious and safe, and that the dining experience is enjoyable. Having a dedicated standard for food and drink is a new development, and represents a greater focus on this area.

Standard 6 will apply only to residential care services.

Outcomes

  • Partnering with older people on food and nutrition
  • Assessment of nutritional needs and preferences
  • Provision of food and drink
  • Dining experience

Standard 7: The Residential Community

Standard 7 is about the residential community, and focuses on continuity of care, security of accommodation, and strategies to help older people maintain relationships.

Standard 7 will apply only to residential care services.

Outcomes

  • Daily living
  • Planned transitions

Other noteworthy changes

  • Use of the phrase ‘older person’/’older people’ – The term currently used to refer to a person receiving services under the existing Quality Standards is ‘consumer’, however the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission acknowledges that this term is not generally well-received by older people. The new term used throughout the revised Quality Standards is ‘older person’.
  • More requirements, that are more detailed – The current Quality Standards are outcomes-focused and consist of eight standards, which include a consumer outcome, an organisation statement and a number of requirements. The new Quality Standards describe more detailed expectations for providers, with an increase from 42 requirements to 31 outcomes with 142 supporting actions. This may look like an increase in the regulatory burden for providers, but the intention is to provide greater clarity to providers, by being more specific about how to achieve the outcomes laid out in the Quality Standards.

Similarities with NDIS Practice Standards

The updated Quality Standards will align structurally with the NDIS Practice Standards, by following a ‘modular’ format and using outcomes and actions (called ‘quality indicators’ in the Quality Standards). The two sets of standards don’t have identical content, but there are plenty of similar themes, and the same pieces of evidence may be used by a provider to satisfy outcomes across both sets of standards. For example, an organisation’s incident management policy may be used to demonstrate compliance with the incident management outcome across both sets of standards.

Government is also considering regulating providers through a registration model, similar to the NDIS Practice Standards. Employing a registration model means that, “requirements for market entry and ongoing provider responsibilities would be applied proportionately, based on the provider’s registration category. A provider’s registration category would be determined based on the types of care and services the provider is seeking to deliver and the risks associated with them”. This is similar to how the NDIS Practice Standards currently operate.

What does the rollout look like?

There will be some time before the new Quality Standards are up and running.

Currently, the Department of Health Aged Care is holding a public consultation process for the Quality Standards, and providers are invited to take part.

Following the public consultation, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will conduct a pilot of the new Quality Standards, to test an updated audit methodology for the Standards.

Providers can expect guidance materials and further updates on the revised Quality Standards in early 2023.

Looking for more information?

The Commission has released a number of helpful resources for the new Quality Standards, including both a summary as well as a detailed Consultation Paper, and a summary and detailed document setting out the new Quality Standards themselves.

To understand the intention behind the new Quality Standards, as well as what all of the requirements are, you might like to take a look at the Commission’s Summary Consultation Paper, as well as the Summary draft of the Quality Standards.

Do you need assistance meeting the Aged Care Quality Standards?

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Royal Commission Series: new governance standard

Posted on by Beatrice Hobson

Over the past few weeks, we have been highlighting a number of the Royal Commission’s recommendations, as well as updating you on resources that can help you implement best practices.

Our focus today is on Recommendation 90: New governance standard.

The Royal Commission’s executive summary of its final report emphasised the need to ensure high standards of governance within aged care providers:

“Provider governance and management directly impact on all aspects of aged care. Deficiencies in the governance and leadership of some approved providers have resulted in shortfalls in the quality and safety of care.

“Governance arrangements provide for the systems by which an organisation is controlled and operates, and the mechanisms by which the organisation and its people are held to account. They are set by the leaders of an organisation, in particular the board or governing body. They are implemented by executive leaders and workers who report to those executive leaders. They involve everyone in an organisation.”

In the Royal Commission’s view, the existing governance requirements under the Aged Care Quality Standards “do not provide a sufficiently strong basis for the governance and leadership of aged care providers.”

The Commission's recommendations

Recommendation 90 sets out a proposal for more robust governance requirements to be introduced, to drive improvements to the aged care system.  Key components of the recommendation include requirements that providers:

  • Have governing body members who possess the appropriate mix of skills, experience and knowledge of governance responsibilities, to ensure the delivery of safe and high-quality care by the provider;
  • Have a care governance committee, to monitor and ensure accountability for the quality of all care provided;
  • Seek and receive regular feedback from consumers, their representatives and staff, on the quality and safety of the services they deliver, and ways in which the services could be improved;
  • Have an integrated complaints management system, including regular reporting to the governing body about complaints, any patterns, and underlying reasons for the complaints;
  • Have effective risk management practices in place covering care risks and also financial and other organisation risks;
  • Give particular consideration to ensuring continuity of care in the event of default by contractors or subcontractors; and
  • Have a governing body representative provide an annual attestation that the governing body has satisfied itself that the provider has structures, systems and processes in place to deliver safe and high-quality care.

How can BNG help?

SPP’s existing self-assessment for the Aged Care Quality Standards is an excellent way for providers to better understand the core components of a comprehensive approach to governance.

The self-assessment goes well beyond just listing the requirements of the standards.  It guides providers through the core approaches and processes they should implement in order to achieve best practice across their organisation, and in the area of governance it includes detailed, educative, best practice modules covering topics such as:

  • Organisational structure and accountabilities; governing body recruitment, induction and training; and reporting;
  • Clinical governance;
  • Risk management systems;
  • Financial controls and management; and
  • Performance monitoring and evaluation, and quality improvement.

It also includes modules on client and community feedback and complaints.

All of the modules include downloadable resources such as policy templates, to help providers develop their own policies and procedures.

Towards Best Practice: Clinical Governance self-assessment

We also have a separate self-assessment for Clinical Governance, which is based on guidance from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. It addresses clinical governance at a more granular level and details the processes that should be in place for a clinical governance framework. The self-assessment outlines the roles and responsibilities of all individuals involved in care including the governing body, senior executive team, operational manager, the workforce, health practitioners and consumers.

Resources

We have many resources which will assist providers to implement a comprehensive approach to governance across their organisation, including a whole resource topic on “Governance and Management”.  You can find this section in the Reading Room under the heading “SPP Resources by Topic”.

You can also search for other resources using the search bar in the Reading Room. A number of our resources address Recommendation 90, including information sheets and policies covering:

  • Client Feedback;
  • Quality Management and Continuous Quality Improvement;
  • Complaints Management; and
  • Risk Management.

While the governance requirements are yet to be formally implemented, your organisation can get ahead by working through our self-assessments and implementing best practice policies and procedures across the organisation.  

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Royal Commission Series: recommendation 99 calls for ‘protection for whistleblowers’

Posted on by Claire Montague

An issue highlighted by the recent Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is the lack of systemic support for whistleblowers within the aged care system. In her overview of the Royal Commission’s Final Report: Care, Dignity and Respect, Commissioner Lynelle Briggs AO states:

“It is a sad fact that many older people, their families and care workers are reluctant to speak up about the quality and safety of care because of the fear of reprisal from providers or their staff members”.

Current problems in the sector

Commissioner Briggs speaks of the need to make more transparent the complaints process and to strengthen whistleblower protections, using the following witness statement from Gwenda Darling, who gave evidence at the Brisbane Hearing, as an example:

“After my first experience of having my service cut off by the provider after complaining, I’ve been a bit fearful that I could lose my package if I complain. The providers have a lot of power. I had to really fight hard to get my package reinstated. I felt hopeless and disempowered after that experience and it felt like there was no point raising issues or complaining.”

Similarly, an aged care nurse shared in a public submission to the Royal Commission that she had “learned over the years not to say anything for fear of repercussions from management”. Staff and consumers within an organisation may worry that they are in a vulnerable position, and therefore feel afraid to voice any concerns they have.

The Australian Medical Association submitted to the Royal Commission that legislated safeguards may help employees to speak up, which may “lead to earlier identification of concerns and to the improvement of services provided to older people in aged care”.

The Royal Commission, in its final report, ultimately recommends that a new Act be introduced, containing comprehensive whistleblower protections for all involved parties.

Recommendation 99 reads:

The new Act should contain comprehensive whistleblower protections for:

a)    a person receiving aged care, their family, carer, independent advocate or significant other

b)    an employee, officer, contractor, or member of the governing body of an approved provider

who makes a complaint or reports a suspected breach of the Quality Standards or another requirement of or under the Act.

What can providers do now?

Since the publication of the Royal Commission’s final report, the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Serious Incident Response
Scheme and Other Measures) Act 2021 (Cth) has commenced. This legislation amends section 54 of the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth), to add protections for disclosures of information related to reportable incidents.

Providers are advised to implement an internal whistleblowing policy in compliance with the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Serious Incident Response Scheme and Other Measures) Act , which protects consumers, staff and families from reprisal when voicing concerns.

Such a policy should:

  • articulate protections for whistleblowers from criminal prosecution, administrative action or civil litigation, such as breach of employment contract or duty of confidentiality; and
  • formalise that staff or representatives of the provider will not be permitted to cause or threaten detriment to someone who has made or wishes to make a whistleblower disclosure.

Separately, providers should ensure their complaints management policies and processes are consumer-centred, and clearly state the protections in place for consumers, staff and family who seek to report concerns. There should be clear expectations that managerial staff will act ethically and will not target consumers, staff or family who make a complaint.

In addition, whistleblowing policies and procedures should comply with the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), which contains certain protections for ‘eligible whistleblowers’. It is important that providers familiarise themselves with the Act, and are aware of their obligations under the Act. More information is available on the ASIC website.

Resources

We have a number of whistleblowing resources on SPP that can assist you to achieve best practice in this space.

  • Info: Whistleblower protection – This info sheet provides an introduction to the concept of whistleblowing and an overview of key rules under the legislation.
  • Policy: Whistleblower protection (public companies) – This is a policy most suitable for larger organisations who are obliged to comply with corporate whistleblowing laws, or for organisations who voluntarily follow the corporate regime.
  • Policy: Whistleblower protection (small organisations) – This is a simpler policy, which still covers key steps in the whistleblowing process. It is a more approachable resource for providers who are not currently required to implement a policy, but still wish to do so.

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