Your Aged Care Update # 40
Notable dates
Aged care sector pulse survey
Closes 31 October
Webinar: Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy
(Workforce and Sector) - Tuesday 24 October
Webinar: Quality improvement in residential aged care
Thursday 2 November
In this issue
News about the reforms
Updated roadmap shows progress of the Aged Care Reform
The reform roadmap has been updated. It includes a range of digital health initiatives and the commencement of new requirements for governing body membership and provider advisory bodies from 1 December 2023.
The roadmap includes major reform elements, sector consultation activities, events and links to more information.
Our aim is to help the sector understand what’s coming up and prepare for the changes ahead to improve aged care for older people.
The dates on the roadmap are subject to change with regular updates to keep the sector informed.
View the new and updated Aged Care Reform Roadmap on the department’s website.
Governing for Reform in Aged Care – updated content available
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission program, Governing for Reform in Aged Care, has been updated to include content on the aged care reforms.
This is a tailored learning program for aged care leaders with content delivered through webinars, toolkits, podcasts and online learning modules.
Topics include:
clinical governance
continuous improvement
infection prevention and control
The Program assists executives and governing body members to implement best practice in aged care governance and ensure the provision of safe and high-quality care to consumers.
Learn more and register at Governing for Reform in Aged Care.
Sector News
Reminder: Reporting deadlines for providers
Aged Care providers need to submit several reports in the coming weeks. This is a reminder to check your reporting requirements for the following:
Quality Indictors reporting due 21 October – GPMS
Provider operations Collection Form due 31 October – GPMS
Aged Care Financial Report due 31 October – Forms Administration
Quarterly Financial Report due 4 November – Forms Administration.
What to expect and how to prepare for the high-risk weather season
Prepare now to keep older people in your care safe during heatwaves, bushfires and severe storms.
Between now and the end of summer 2024 we are likely to experience:
unusually warm daytime temperatures - increasing heatwave risks
reduced rainfall and above-average temperatures - increasing bushfire risk
severe storms in south-east mainland Australia - causing hail, wind, flash flooding, potential blackouts and elevated asthma risk.
Check the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) 2023-24 briefing for more information.
On 31 October 2023, from 10.00 to 11.30 am (AEDT), NEMA will hold a webinar for the aged care sector on what we can expect this summer.
Register now to make sure you are prepared.
More regular reviews of aged care fees
From late October 2023, Services Australia will move to more regular reviews of residential aged care and home care fees. These will replace the Quarterly Reviews.
The regular reviews will apply changes to care recipient fees closer to when changes happen. The reviews will also calculate any applicable refund amounts as part of the next monthly claim process.
This means you and your care recipients may receive more regular letters advising of fee changes or refunds.
It is important to review letters thoroughly as changes to fees will take effect from the date advised in the letter.
For more information visit residential care and home care on the Services Australia website.
In-home care
Webinar: Introduction to accessible documents
Vision Australia is hosting a training webinar for Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) providers, to explain how to make all your documents accessible to everyone.
Unless you have undergone training, you risk creating documents that not everyone can use including, people living with vision loss or blindness.
Join Vision Australia’s 2-hour training webinar and learn how to:
use the suite of inbuilt accessibility tools in Word, PDF and Adobe Acrobat
check Word and PDF documents to ensure accessibility requirements have been met
understand the importance of accessibility in documents.
When: Thursday 2 November 2023. 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm (AEST)
This course is free for CHSP providers and suitable for communications and marketing specialists and content authors. There are 30 spots available.
Register to secure your spot.
For further information contact DigitalAccessTraining@visionaustralia.org.
Residential care
Star Ratings quarterly update: Provider preview available
Quarterly updates to Star Ratings are now available for residential aged care providers to preview in the Government Provider Management System (GPMS).
The preview commenced on 12 October and will be available for 2 weeks.
This update will include Quarter 4 FY 2022-23 data (April-June) for Staffing and Quality Measures, with Compliance information updated daily, in response to regulatory decisions.
Services that completed the Residents’ Experience Survey from June to the end of August will see their results reflected in this Star Ratings update. Resident’s Experience Reports will continue to be distributed to participating aged care homes 6 weeks after completion of the survey.
More information is available on the GPMS and Star Ratings webpages including the Government Provider management System User Guide: Star Ratings.
If you have any questions, please contact the My Aged Care Service Provider and Assessor Helpline on 1800 836 799.
Reminder: Quality Indicator reporting is closing soon
A reminder for residential aged care providers that Quarter 1 reporting for all 11 Quality Indicators is closing soon.
Quality Indicator data submission is due Saturday, 21 October by 11:59 pm (AEDT).
We appreciate some providers experienced issues with submitting data via GPMS last quarter.
please refer to the QI Reporting via GPMS - Additional guidance for assistance with reporting issues.
you can also refer to the GPMS - User Guide: Quality Indicators Application.
If you need assistance, please contact the My Aged Care Service Provider and Assessor Helpline on 1800 836 799.
If you have concerns about your data being submitted on time, please contact QPSec@health.gov.au. Late submission may impact your Star Ratings.
Free training for aged care home kitchen teams – apply now
Applications for the Maggie Beer Foundation Trainer Mentor Program are now open.
The free program gives kitchen teams in aged care homes access to a professional chef trainer.
The trainer will mentor teams on how to create flavourful and nutritious food.
Over 12-months, participating homes will:
receive a menu appraisal from an Accredited Practising Dietitian
receive five days of intensive in-home training and monthly check-ins
complete food satisfaction questionnaires and receive a report on the results.
Building kitchen team capability helps your home:
improve dining experiences for residents
meet the draft dedicated food and nutrition Aged Care Quality Standard
increase positive responses for Residents’ Experience Surveys
reduce unplanned weight loss, falls and injuries
Register your interest by 23 October 2023.
Webinar: Family carer support in residential aged care
The Swinburne Wellbeing Clinic for Older Adults is delivering a free webinar on how to support families when a relative is living in residential aged care.
This webinar is for people employed in aged care, as well as psychologists, social workers, counsellors and volunteers who work with older adults.
When: Friday 27 October, 4:45 pm to 6 pm (AEDT).
Clinical psychologist Denise Weissman will outline how to support families of aged care residents and will provide guidance on organising and facilitating family support groups in an online environment.
Register for the webinar now.
Reminder: Seeking provider input to the Residents’ Experience Survey process
Thank you for your participation and ongoing support for the Residents’ Experience Survey (RES).
The 2023 round of the RES is almost complete with nearly 35,000 surveys conducted across 2,500 services to date.
We want to make sure the RES is a positive experience for participants. Staff are invited to share their feedback on the process and tell us what worked well this year and what we could improve in 2024.
Feedback can be submitted through the Residential Aged Care Home’s Staff Survey.
The staff survey includes 10 questions and is open until 27 October.
More information on RES is on our website.
Reminder: Provide your feedback on draft Design Principles and Guidelines for residential accommodation
Have you provided your feedback on the draft Design Principles and Guidelines? The feedback form is open until Friday 17 November 2023.
Help us improve the design of residential aged care accommodation by providing your feedback on the draft Principles and Guidelines and factors likely to impact their adoption.
Your feedback will help us finalise the Design Principles and Guidelines before their introduction from 1 July 2024.
Feedback will also inform a new Residential Aged Care Accommodation Framework, including measures to support implementation.
Workforce
Aged Care Nursing Clinical Placements Program
The Aged Care Nursing Clinical Placements Program provides Bachelor of Nursing students in Australia with high-quality supportive clinical placements in aged care. The program allows nursing students to experience the rewarding nature of caring for older people early in their career.
Suppliers of the program will provide trained clinical facilitators who will deliver specialist support to students in the program.
Free online resources and tools are also available to all nursing students and aged care workers nationally on the Aged Care Knowledge Hub.
Providers interested in hosting students are encouraged to reach out to suppliers delivering this program.
To find out more, visit the Aged Care Nursing Clinical Placements Program website.
The program runs until December 2024.