Aged care news highlights from the week ending 3 February 2023, aggregated by CompliSpace.
The information in the Weekly Wrap is aggregated from other news sources to provide you with news that is relevant to the aged care sector across Australia and worldwide. Each paragraph is a summary of the subject matter covered in the particular news article. The information does not necessarily reflect the views of CompliSpace.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, from 1 February 2023, requests for Commonwealth supports are now managed through a central inbox, with State and Territory Network Case Management inboxes no longer being monitored. Emails sent to a case management inbox from 1 February 2023 will receive an automatic reply with the following information on the revised process. The new centralised contact point to request any of the following Commonwealth supports is AgedCareCOVIDEnquiries@health.gov.au. Your request will be referred to the relevant area for action.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, the Australian Government is providing RAT kits to all residential aged care homes for surveillance screening of staff and visitors. These will be delivered without you needing to place a request. Should you wish to opt out of receiving this supply or alter the quantity and/or frequency of supply please contact the Department by email: AgedCareCOVIDEnquiries@health.gov.au.
Oral antivirals treatments
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, the oral antivirals Lagevrio® and Paxlovid® are available through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Please ensure your COVID-19 positive residents have access to oral antivirals, prescribed by a medical practitioner as a priority. If you need assistance accessing a prescriber, consider HealthDirect’s free helpline 1800 022 222 or the online Service Finder.
The Find a Pharmacy website is available for sourcing antivirals through community pharmacy channels, your Primary Health Network may also be able to assist connect you to a local prescriber. If you are in outbreak and are unable to access antivirals quickly, please contact the Department via email: AgedCareCOVIDEnquiries@health.gov.au.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, residential aged care homes that need temporary surge workforce can contact the Department once all other attempts to access staff from your organisation’s internal or agency workforce have been unsuccessful. In the first instance the provider should aim to self-manage their workforce where possible. For further information on surge workforce, please refer to COVID-19 Aged Care Workforce Measures FAQs. For processing of workforce requests please contact the Department via email: AgedCareCOVIDEnquiries@health.gov.au.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, residential aged care providers are required to report ALL COVID-19 cases for residents, staff and visitors immediately to the Department of Health and Aged Care via the My Aged Care COVID-19 Support Portal.
With the State and Territory network Case Management inboxes no longer being monitored for updates to COVID cases, closures or requests for Commonwealth support, the My Aged Care COVID-19 Support Portal replaces email notification of a positive case in your facility.
You should also report COVID-19 positive cases to your Public Health Unit (PHU) immediately, if required. PHUs may require detailed individual-level information to assist aged care services.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, the supply of PPE, through the NMS, continues to be available until 31 December 2023 to support residential aged care homes that are in outbreak when commercial supplies are unavailable or insufficient. If your residential aged care home is experiencing an outbreak and you have exhausted all attempts to source PPE from commercial suppliers, you can request additional PPE through the My Aged Care Provider portal.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, a reminder to residential aged care homes needing COVID-19 vaccination support this year, please contact RACFVaccineClinics@health.gov.au and we will liaise with your local Primary Health Network to determine what assistance is available through primary care providers in your area.
Please do not directly approach Vaccine Administration Partners Program (VAPP) providers.
According to Aged Care Insite, the aged care staffing shortage is likely to deepen by 2025, a recent report found. A National Skills Commission (NSC) report, released last week, said demand for care staff would rise by 40 per cent over four years but would not be met by enough working-aged Australians. The nation will need to fill over 54,000 roles in aged and disability care and roughly 50,000 nursing positions.
According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, following the Department of Health and Aged Care’s (the Department) public consultation on the draft revised Quality Standards last year, the Department is now considering the feedback from that consultation process. This will involve us undertaking a pilot program to test a redesigned audit methodology across different service types and sizes. The Commission has just published the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards pilot program – Provider fact sheet which includes details of how providers can apply to participate. Look out for the latest information by visiting our website regularly. Send your feedback, suggestions and questions by emailing the Commission at agedcarereform@agedcarequality.gov.au.
According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, as you would be aware, Star Ratings for residential aged care were published on the My Aged Care portal on 19 December 2022. Star Ratings apply to residential aged care services and are calculated from a combination of four measures. Follow the link to this article to see a table that explains the relationship between the Commission’s compliance decisions and the ratings.
According to Aged Care Insite, providers are calling on the government to scrap the new Star Rating System, saying the current assessment reflects historic non-compliances and doesn't consider how aged care is funded.
According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Commission’s Sector Performance Report (SPR) continues to deliver valuable insights that help providers understand sector-wide performance and identify their own key areas for improvement. Information to note from the Quarter 1 (2022-23) SPR (July to September 2022) includes:
According to Australian Ageing Agenda, aged care workers who engage in serious poor conduct or who are deemed unsuitable to work in the sector can be banned from working in the industry by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Commission now has the power to make a banning order against an individual. Information on individuals who have been issued a banning order is contained in the Aged Care Banning Order Register which is published in the Commission website. To assist providers in understanding this new power, the Commission has released the Banning Orders Regulatory Bulletin. Further information is available on our website.
According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Commission has updated its regulatory bulletin on publication of provider performance information, which sets out the performance information that the Commission publishes about providers. The updated Regulatory Bulletin 2023-18 Publication of provider performance information includes an overview on the publication of information relating to Star Ratings, with a specific focus on the Compliance Rating sub-category.
According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, providers have a number of reporting obligations under the Accountability Principles (2014) in the Aged Care Act. You must lodge your Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) in a timely manner to meet your responsibilities as an approved provider. Quarterly Financial Reports for the reporting period 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022 (Quarter 2) are due by Tuesday 14 February 2023, and should be submitted through the Forms Administration portal. Further information on QFR, including the webinar held by the Department of Health and Aged Care on 8 December 2022, is available on the Forms Administration website.
According to The Canberra Times, serious concerns have been raised for those older people living in substandard aged care homes which achieved only a one or two star rating in the recently introduced star rating system. Advocates want urgent improvement plans put in place to protect the welfare of residents.
According to Aged Care Insite, one of Australia's major aged care peaks has said expanding the 15 per cent pay rise to all staff is a crucial part of repairing the industry. Chief of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) Tom Symondson said it's crucial to recognise that everyone working in aged care is valuable.
According to Australian Ageing Agenda, projects to develop a toolkit to help aged care providers introduce activity-monitoring technologies and a video app to connect aged care recipients with volunteers are among 11 aged care innovation projects funded this week.
According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, caps now apply to administration and management charges in the Home Care Packages (HCP) Program. From 1 January 2023, the amount a provider can charge for care management and package management is capped at 20 per cent and 15 per cent of the package level respectively. Additionally, providers are no longer able to charge exit amounts or charge separately for costs associated with third party services. The Changes to Administration and Management Charges in the Home Care Packages Program Regulatory Bulletin outlines these changes and describes how the Commission will regulate them. Providers are encouraged to visit Care management and care plans for Home Care packages on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website for further information.
According to Aged Care Insite, a survey released last week has shed light on the reasoning behind the government's decision to cap home care package fees last year. Seventy-five per cent of care recipients and carers in Australia said the average costs for care and package management are too high. Providers expressed concerns that the capping of home care packages would impact their financial sustainability and negatively affect their quality of care.
An Act to provide for and regulate access to voluntary assisted dying, to establish the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board, to make related amendments to other Acts, and for other purposes.
An Act to amend the Coroners Act 2003 and the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 to make two amendments to the Coroners Act 2003 and the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935. The Act makes a number of amendments to the Coroners Act to clarify how deaths that occur in accordance with the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021 are to be treated under the Coroners Act and amends section 3 of the Coroners Act to remove an amendment inserted by the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act, which provides that the deaths that occur in accordance with that Act are reportable deaths for the purposes of the Coroners Act, and inserts a provision which expressly provides that deaths that occur in accordance with the Voluntary Assisted Dying scheme are not reportable deaths for the purposes of Coroners Act.