New laws, new Standards and a Royal Commission report – it’s been a huge year for the aged care industry. Regulations have grown more complicated than ever before. As ACE looks back on the most popular articles for 2019, it’s not surprising that we see a clear preference among our readers for concise guides and practical tips.
The industry is not getting any simpler, so as 2020 rolls out we’ll continue our mission to provide you with simple, practical, how-to guides to help you navigate the Aged Care Quality Standards and other compliance requirements.
In the meantime, here are the top 10 ACE articles for 2019.
# 10
How to Use the ACQSC Self-Assessment Process to Your Advantage
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) Self-Assessment process can seem like burdensome paperwork, but with these tips it can be transformed into a useful management tool that helps you maintain continuous improvement while measuring and reporting on the care and services you provide.
# 9
How to Demonstrate That You Understand, Apply, Monitor and Continuously Improve ACQS Requirements
The ACQSC assessors require aged care providers to demonstrate four metrics for each requirement in the Aged Care Quality Standards: understand the requirement, apply it, monitor outcomes and then review them for continuous improvement. To meet these complex requirements, you have to go beyond a ‘tick the box’ approach and build a compliance culture. This article introduces you to the process of building a compliance culture using the P-LAR methodology.
# 8
You May Be Breaching Your Aged Care Compliance Obligations Without Even Knowing It
When it comes to aged care compliance obligations, a breach that is unconscious or unintentional is still a breach as far as the law is concerned. These scenarios provide practical examples to help you understand how breaches (often unconsciously or unintentionally) can occur in an aged care home and what you can do to prevent them.
#7
The Aged Care ‘Open Disclosure’ Process Explained in Five Points
The Aged Care Quality Standards require aged care providers to have systems in place that support an ‘Open Disclosure’ process. The ACQSC explains what Open Disclosure means in its 44-page Open Disclosure: Framework and Guidance document. But if you don’t have time to read the whole guide, or need a quick overview before diving in, here is Open Disclosure Explained in Five Points.
# 6
Top Tips for Staff and Contractors Operating Under the New Standards
Covering everything from planning and communication to referrals and food service, these practical tips show you what you can do on a daily basis to foster a culture of consumer-focused care.
# 5
How the Standards Relate: Aged Care Quality Standards Mapped to One Another
Each of the eight Aged Care Quality Standards interrelates in complex ways. This handy chart is a reference for you to understand the relationship between each Standard.
# 4
The New Aged Care Quality Standards: How Will Compliance Be Assessed?
This simple, plain English guide summarises the different kinds of assessments that the ACQSC uses and tells you how, when and why assessments happen.
# 3
Standard 1: Consumer Dignity and Choice – Mapping Matrix Tool
This is the first in our series of Mapping Matrix Tools for each of the Aged Care Quality Standards. The article lists practical tips to help providers transition from the old standards to the new standards. It also links to the Standard 1 Mapping Matrix Tool, a user-friendly two-page introduction to the requirements under Standard 1.
# 2
Four Practical Things Aged Care Providers Can Do Right Now in Response to the Royal Commission’s Interim Report
The release of the Aged Care Royal Commission’s Interim Report left many aged care providers feeling overwhelmed. That’s why we’ve set out these four things that you can do right now to better understand and respond to the Interim Report.
# 1
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission – Themes from Assessor Visits
We published the original version of this article in July 2019, and an updated version the following September. With its insights into what assessors are looking for, and its simple, practical tips on how to respond to assessors’ questions, it’s easy to see why this was the most read article in 2019.
