Aged Care Quality Standards and new Charter of Rights now in place
* 1 July 2019 *
Note: image reproduced, with permission, from Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission website www.agedcarequality.gov.au. Use does not constitute their endorsement of this information.
Today, the new Aged Care Quality Standards come into force – and the new Charter of Aged Care Rights replaces the previous versions.
The new Aged Care Quality Standards apply to both residential aged care and home care. The new Standards focus on quality outcomes for aged care residents and home care customers (all known as ‘consumers’) and aim to simplify the regulation process for providers, like Vasey RSL Care, that provide services in both areas. The new Standards also aim to make it easier for those receiving services and their families to understand what they can expect.
From today, all aged care services providing Commonwealth-subsidised aged care services are bound by the new Standards and providers will be assessed against them for accreditation purposes.
Also taking place today is the changeover to the new Charter of Aged Care Rights. Again, this will apply to both home care and residential aged care and will provide the same rights to all consumers, regardless of the type of Australian Government funded care and services they receive. It will replace three existing charters for residential care, home care and short-term restorative care.
The new Charter focuses on 14 high-level consumer rights and is aimed at making it easier for consumers to know what to expect from a service. A transition period of six months will enable providers to change over to the new Charter and comply with their responsibilities.
“For more than a year, we have been preparing for the new Standards,” says CEO, Janna Voloshin. “This is a significant change which will affect every aspect of our organisation. We believe this is a positive change for the aged care industry that will be to the benefit of residents and home care consumers, and is in line with our own Purpose and Promises.”
General Manager Quality & Risk, Annette Greenwood, has headed the change process culminating in a communication program to all members of our community, which has run for the last four months.
“I am excited to see the new Standards come into play”, says Annette. “We now have a single standards framework and a rigorous accreditation system and I believe this will result in better care and services for Australia’s seniors. The fact that the first standard is ‘Consumer dignity and choice’, and this standard underpins all others, demonstrates the goal of the new Standards to firmly put the direction of care into the hands of the individual.”
“Thanks to Annette’s leadership of this transition and the work of her team and all our managers and leaders, our organisation is prepared for the new Standards, and from this foundation, we will continue to strive for excellence in care for the ex-service community and the general public,” says Janna.