Your Aged Care Update # 07/24
Notable dates
Notable dates
Webinar: New Aged Care Act Q&A session
28 February
Webinar: COVID-19 outbreak support
7 March
Consultation: Quality Indicator program
Closes 5 March
In this issue
News about the reforms
Consultation: New Aged Care Act closing soon
There’s still time to have your say. Consultation on the draft new Aged Care Act is open until Friday 8 March.
Our in-person workshops and virtual workshops are continuing. Register to attend a workshop and give us your feedback on the draft Act and its impacts.
You can also have your say by:
completing a survey online or calling our consultation line on 1800 318 209
sending us a written submission by email or post.
If you have questions about the draft Act, join us for our next Q&A webinar at 2 pm (AEDT) on Wednesday 28 February. Pre-submit your questions when you register to attend.
Read more about the new Aged Care Act consultation.
Governing for Reform - free resources and learning activities
All the resources and learning activities from the Governing for Reform in Aged Care program are now free.
The Governing for Reform in Aged Care Program supports governing body members, leaders and emerging leaders to strengthen corporate and clinical governance capabilities and enact critical reform.
The program, from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, has been supporting sector leaders since the beginning of the reforms. Now you can access all the resources and learning activities from the Commission’s website.
Visit Governing for Reform and access webinars, podcasts, workshops, and coaching sessions.
Sector news
Where health care meets aged care - roles and responsibilities
We have published a joint statement on the roles and responsibilities for delivering health and aged care services.
The purpose of this statement is to provide policy guidance for aged care and health providers and make it clear who does what. This has been developed in direct response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Aged Care Quality and Safety.
You can find a summary in the Factsheet: Where health care meets aged care. This provides information for older people on the responsibilities of:
The Australian Government
State and territory governments
Residential aged care providers
Home care providers (including community care providers).
You can also read the full statement of roles and responsibilities.
Award-winning Dementia education app now free
Dementia Australia’s mobile education app Ask Annie is now free for all aged care workers supporting people living with dementia and looking to upskill.
Ask Annie acts as a ‘coach in your pocket’ using practical advice and strategies that workers can apply on-the-job. With short lessons and an easy-to-use search function, you can quickly solve problems and find the advice you need. Anytime, anywhere and free.
The app now includes a new course called Residential Aged Care: Plan Behaviour Support. This course includes real-life scenarios to help workers with decision making and behaviour support planning.
Learn more about the app and download it on the Dementia Australia website.
Residential care
Updated Star Ratings on the My Aged Care Website
Updated Star Ratings are on the My Aged Care website via the ‘Find a Provider’ tool.
This update includes:
Staffing and Quality Measures ratings data for July - September 2023
Residents’ Experience Ratings for services that completed the annual survey between September-October 2023
contemporary compliance ratings.
Find more information on Star Ratings and access our resources.
You can also download the Star Ratings Improvement Manual for guidance on introducing changes to improve ratings.
Quality Indicator online reporting
We have updated the Quality Indicator reporting dashboard in the Government Provider Management System (GPMS). This update allows services to compare their quality indicator data against other services.
GPMS users should note that results will not be displayed if a search produces less than 10 services. This is to ensure privacy and prevent the ability to identify any particular service provider.
Check the compare service filter function in GPMS now via the Quality Indicators tile. You will find the ‘Compare Filters’ function within the Quality Indicators Reporting dashboard.
Workforce
National Suicide Prevention for Seniors Program
If you work with older people, learn how to identify and support someone experiencing thoughts of suicide.
Anglicare offers free suicide prevention training workshops for those caring for or working with older people.
You will learn about:
warning signs of suicide
common risk factors for older people
how to have a conversation and refer someone to professional support.
The online workshops run for 3 hours, and no prior mental health knowledge is required.
The program is accredited against the Suicide Prevention Australia standards and funded by the NSW and Australian governments.
If you are interested go to suicide prevention on the Anglicare website. You can also email suicide.prevention@anglicare.org.au.