reporting in aged care" width="1000" height="667" />If you are planning to transition a loved one or family member into residential aged care, peace of mind is obviously a priority.
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Everyone who goes into care has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and given access to the food, comfort and medical treatment that meets their individual needs. To ensure this happens in Australia, there are very strict rules and regulations in place. These ensure any non-compliance is quickly noticed, rectified and prevented from happening again.
Here are the details relating to the Aged Care Act of 1997, reportable incidents and mandatory reporting in aged care in Australia.
The Aged Care Act in Australia is a set of laws that protect the rights of older people who live in aged care facilities.
It covers the following:
Other legislation related to aged care complaints and accreditation includes:
The Act is regularly updated to ensure it encourages best practices in care.
As shared by the Parliament of Australia, the regulation of aged care service quality is shared between the Department of Health (the Department) and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission).
The Department approves providers to provide care under the Aged Care Act. If providers fail to comply with their responsibilities under the Act, the Secretary can issue a notice of non-compliance or impose sanctions.
The Commission is an independent statutory agency established under the Commission Act. It is responsible for quality assessment and monitoring of aged care providers against the Aged Care Quality Standards, complaints handling, consumer engagement and provider education.
The rights of people who receive care in Australia are covered by what’s referred to as Quality Standards. There are eight specific Aged Care Quality Standards that reflect the level of care all individuals should expect.
Every aged care home provider should be able to demonstrate to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission that it meets aged care quality standards.
To ensure this is the case, aged care facilities are regularly visited, monitored and reviewed by an Assessment Team. In addition, anyone who is involved with aged care, from staff and residents to family members is encouraged to share their feedback.
As part of Aged Care Quality Standards legislation, aged care facilities are required to:
The Royal Commission into Aged Care commenced in 2018, with the goal of investigating the quality of care being provided to older Australians.
As a result of the Royal Commission, amendments to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Rules 2018 (Commission Rules) were put in place. These focused on the following key outcomes:
To ensure non-compliance is kept at a minimum and regularly monitored, an amendment to the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) was passed by the Federal Parliament in 2021, which replaced existing mandatory reporting requirements and introduced what’s called a ‘Serious Incident Response Scheme’ (SIRS).
The SIRS is designed to ensure aged care facilities and providers identify, record, manage, resolve and report incidents that occur or are suspected to have occurred. It applies to residential care and asks providers to have a documented set of protocols, processes and operating procedures to help manage what are referred to as ‘reportable incidents’.
Aged care reporting (also known as compulsory reporting or mandatory reporting in nursing) ensures serious incidents do not go undocumented and that they receive attention from the right people.
The term ‘reportable incidents’ include allegations or definite occurrences of the following:
Reportable assaults, as per the legislation, must be shared with the police and the Department of Health within 24 hours.
As shared by agedcarequality.gov.au, “Notifying reportable incidents via the SIRS supports providers to identify trends and issues and pursue continuous improvement in service quality and safety. It also supports the Commission to assess and respond to risk at a service level, and to identify where improvements are needed across the sector.”
Where providers don’t have all the information, they are encouraged to share details about what steps should be taken to ensure health and wellbeing, and what they plan to do to assess causes, plus plan a response to the incident.
Providers are encouraged to share details such as:
Compulsory reporting in aged care dictates that Priority 1 reportable incidents of accidents or elder abuse must be reported within 24 hours of the incident. Further details may be requested within five days of the incident.
An incident is Priority 1 if:
As per agedcarequality.gov.au, Priority 2 reportable incidents are all those that do not meet the above criteria. If a Priority 2 incident occurs, it must be reported to the Commission within 30 days of a provider becoming aware of the incident.
To help providers and individuals decide if an incident is Priority 1 or Priority 2, there is an online tool, which can be accessed here: https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/sirs/decision-support-tool
If there is a serious incident at an aged care facility, the facility is legally required to submit a report to the relevant authorities. However, there is protection for whistleblowers who may decide to submit a report of their own volition.
According to HealthLegal, “any person who makes a disclosure is also protected from victimisation. New section 54-6 of the Act creates a civil penalty of 500 penalty units ($111,000) for victimisation. A person contravenes this new provision if they cause detriment to another or they threaten to cause detriment.”
If a facility is operated correctly, there will be a system in place when it comes to incidents and compulsory reporting. However, staff do take initiative when issues arise for their own ethical reasons.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation states that:
As part of the SIRS, aged care facilities are expected to implement processes and procedures to prevent, manage and respond to incidents.
Approved providers must have an effective incident management system (IMS) in place and use this to continuously improve the management and prevention of incidents. The IMS should support an aged care provider and their staff to take appropriate action when there is an alleged, suspected or witnessed incident.
Appropriate action in response to an incident includes:
Providers can follow aged care reporting requirements and report serious incidents by logging into the My Aged Care Provider Portal. Staff should be adequately trained to ensure they can access the portal and submit reports in a timely way.
When an incident is reported, the responsible body is the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. The Commission assesses reportable incident notices to determine the type of response required.
The Commission has the power to take action, to address non-compliance with provider responsibilities. It also has powers to issue compliance notices for suspected non-compliance with the SIRS obligations.
If you are concerned about elder abuse or about an incident at an aged care facility, it is recommended that you raise your concern directly with the staff or managers at your aged care service first.
If the outcome of your concern doesn’t match your expectations or if you have a Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) enquiry, you can call for free on 1800 081 549 between 9 am and 5 pm Monday to Friday or 8 am to 6 pm Saturday to Sunday, or email sirs@agedcarequality.gov.au.
You can also lodge an open, confidential or anonymous complaint by visiting: https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/making-complaint/lodge-complaint
Talk of mandatory reporting in aged care, the different compulsory requirements and serious incident reports can be overwhelming. However, these strict systems are in place to ensure things do not go wrong and maintain the highest possible level of accountability.
Since the SIRS was introduced in 2021, aged care facilities have been encouraged to create stringent protocols so staff understand how to avoid and report serious incidents. They receive regular training so there is a clear understanding of right vs wrong and a clear outline of what to do in the event of a worst-case scenario.
When you’re looking into aged care facilities, take the time to do some research and find out which providers are the most reliable and highly regarded. Read reviews and speak to the providers themselves about their incident response policy.
Visit the largest aged care reviews website at https://agedcarereviews.com.au/ to find helpful reviews of facilities near you.
Aged care is an important and necessary service, but it’s crucial that the right decisions are made when it comes to choosing a facility for your loved one. Aged Care Decisions provides assistance to families at every stage of the aged care or home care journey. We work with over 1200 facilities and assist over 6000 families every month, 100% free of charge.
