Nov 20, 2020

Aged care performance data must be made public

Consumers need easy access to data about the performance of individual aged care facilities so that they can make informed decisions, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

ALA spokesperson and aged care advocate Catherine Henry welcomed this week’s release of a research paper detailing performance against 50 aged care quality and safety indicators by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

“The information released by the Royal Commission was made public for the first time,” Ms Henry said.

“We would not accept this lack of transparency in any other setting.

“Older Australians are suffering and at risk in aged care facilities and those caring for them face an uphill battle to provide appropriate care. Families need access to quality performance data so that they can make informed decisions about placement of their elderly relatives.

“The research report shows that accessing the data is possible. To make this information useful for families it needs to be publicly available and narrowed down to individual facilities.

“Families choosing a child care facility can easily go online and check whether the individual facilities in their local area meet, exceed or fail to reach the expected quality standards. In both the UK and the US, this type of quality information about individual aged care facilities is available online with a simple postcode search.

“Similar publicly available information about the performance of aged care facilities in Australia will help to support consumer choice and, importantly, motivate aged care facilities to improve.”

Ms Henry said the report also showed that aged care facilities run by the state and not-for- profit organisations performed better across the indicators than those run by for-profit organisations.

“The privatisation of the aged care sector in 1997 has not worked. It’s a system that was designed by providers for providers. We agree with the recommendation made by Counsel assisting the Royal Commission that it’s time for a new Aged Care Act that embeds quality indicators and better regulation of the sector’s performance.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Code of Conduct keeping negligent workforce at bay with register of banned staff

Yesterday marked three months since the Code of Conduct for Aged Care was implemented in the sector, which also included establishing a register of banned aged care workers due to malpractice. Read More

Could superannuation-like health savings accounts fund our future aged care system?

If the stimulus-heavy federal budget was not the right moment to finally fill the gaping funding hole in Australian aged care, one probably has to conclude the moment will never come. So it is time for the Morrison government to start getting creative. The aged care royal commission has laid bare the hard choice facing... Read More

Nursing home operators may be fined if they fail to report abuse

  The aged care watchdog may be given additional powers that allow it to impose fines on providers that fail to comply with new rules about reporting neglect and abuse in aged care homes. The proposal to increase the powers of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, which will be debated when parliament resumes next month,... Read More
Advertisement