Government commits to Quality and Safety Commission improvements

The Government announced that it has accepted all 32 recommendations from the Independent Capability Review of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, confirming that six have already been completed and most should be delivered by the end of the year.

In a report released on Monday afternoon, Anika Wells, the Minister for Aged Care, said the independent review of the Commission was comprehensive and measured. 

“Delivering safe, high-quality care to older Australians is non-negotiable. We need a well-equipped, high-performing, regulator if we’re going to meet the challenges facing aged care,” she said.

“The independent review led by Mr David Tune AO PSM charts a course for service improvement by lifting the capability of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and we’ve accepted all 32 of his recommendations.

“We’ve already made substantial progress in delivering on these recommendations, and I look forward to continue working with the Commission to ensure best-practice regulation and building a system that delivers excellent care for all older people.”

Additionally, Janet Anderson PSM, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, welcomed the Government’s response to the review and the recommendations.

“The community in general, and older people in particular, have a right to expect that the regulator of aged care will be high performing; successful in holding providers to account and incentivising best practice service delivery,” Ms Anderson said.

“This expectation takes on heightened importance in the context of the major reforms currently being pursued by the Government, including the planned introduction of a new Aged Care Act with a new regulatory model and strengthened Quality Standards.”

One of the first recommendations to be acted on was the creation of an Implementation Steering Committee to manage the implementation of the remaining 31 recommendations. Ms Anderson said three recommendations have already been delivered by the Commission with 11 more to be completed in June. 

“This has seen the appointment of the Complaints Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner Sector Capability and Regulatory Strategy, and Deputy Commissioner Corporate to strengthen the Commission’s executive leadership; significant work being undertaken to update our regulatory strategy; comprehensive reviews of our complaints management processes and our handling of serious incident notifications; an accelerated cyber security uplift program; delivery of a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy; and an enhanced user-focused website,” Ms Anderson added. 

Additionally, Minister Wells highlighted that funding has been allocated to six recommendations, including: 

• $25.3 million, to assist the Commission to undertake its core regulatory functions and respond to two early recommendations from the review’s preliminary report (Recs 4.11 and 4.13)
• $69.4 million for critical ICT and cyber security uplift (Recs 4.9 and 4.10)
• $4.1 million to implement a new organisational structure (Recs 4.3 and 4.8)
• $7.1 million to continue funding for the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner and associated complaints resolution staff (Rec 5.7)
• $10.2 million for additional corporate capability to implement the Government Response

The Government says most recommendations will be delivered by the end of the year.

“I am satisfied with the pace of the implementation of these important changes to the Commission. The Commission will continue to build its core capability in line with report recommendations and ensure best practice regulation is delivered,” Minister Wells added.

The full list of recommendations and the Government’s actions can be found on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website. Notable recommendations to be implemented in 2024 are highlighted below.

Recommendation 4.4: The Commission to implement a robust, comprehensive and transparent corporate governance framework.

While the final report called for this corporate governance framework to be implemented by September 30 2023, the Government has put a September 2024 deadline on recommendation 4.4.

Recommendation 4.14: The Commission to update its Regulatory Strategy in consultation with all relevant stakeholders so that aged care providers, consumers and other interested parties can effectively contribute to the continuous improvement of aged care regulation.

This recommendation will be delivered by July with relevant updates to follow once the new Aged Care Act commences. 

Recommendation 5.1: The Commission to actively work towards having a significantly higher proportion of accreditation site audits undertaken by its permanent quality assessor workforce.

The Government states that implementation of recommendation 5.1 will be “ongoing”. 

Recommendation 5.2: The Commission to implement the Quality Assurance Framework across all its regulatory functions. To ensure regular reporting of assurance activities and key findings on the Commission’s website to provide greater assurance to providers and consumers. 

Similar to other recommendations with a September 2023 completion date, the Quality Assurance Framework will reportedly be applied to all regulatory functions by September 2024.

Recommendation 5.8: The Aged Care Complaints Commissioner to prioritise a thorough review of the revised operating model for the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) to determine whether it is effective in managing the high volume of notifications and identifying and addressing risks associated with serious incidents.

A SIRS review will be delivered by June, although announcements have not been made yet.