Preparing for reform: why resident-centred thinking matters

By Cameron McPherson, Chief Executive Officer, Medical & Aged Care Group (MACG)

Australia’s new, rights-based Aged Care Act takes effect on 1 November 2025, marking one of the most significant shifts the sector has seen in decades. The reform reframes aged care around older people’s rights, putting residents front and centre. It replaces outdated laws, elevates accountability for providers and workers, and ushers in a tougher, more transparent regulatory model. In practice, it shifts the focus from “meeting provider rules” to “proving that each person’s rights and outcomes come first.”

Across the sector, many are now asking: what will reform look like in practice? What will it mean for providers and residents, and how will it reshape standards of care?

For MACG, the goal isn’t simply to comply by day one. It’s to embed rights, safety and dignity into every shift, every decision and every data point so residents and families can feel the impact every day.

The reform also presents an opportunity for providers to innovate and strengthen their operations. By putting residents first, providers can deliver higher quality, person-centred care that sets them apart, meeting expectations while helping to shape a more resilient, future ready sector.

Readiness in action: how MACG has prepared for the new Aged Care Act
At MACG we’ve treated the reform as a system redesign, not a paperwork exercise. Three core workflows have shaped our approach.

1. Rights-first policy architecture: ensuring care that residents see and feel

Policies can either sit on a shelf, or serve as a blueprint for safe, consistent care. Working with Anchor Excellence, we refreshed our policy and procedure suite so frontline teams always know what good looks like and how to deliver it.

Anchor’s library of more than 700 documents, aligned to the Strengthened Standards, helped us close gaps, standardise practices, and keep guidance current as rules evolve. We also customised language to suit our context, making policies truly usable at the bedside and in the back office.

As a result, residents are seeing clearer care plans, consistent escalation pathways, and dining, medication and infection control practices that align with written standards, all underpinned by a visible, practical focus on dignity, identity and choice.

2. Independent assurance: spotting gaps and building leadership

At MACG, capability and culture are tested on the floor, not in a board paper. With Provider Assist, we commissioned clinical audits and “discovery” reviews against the strengthened Standards and Act requirements, using their step-by-step transition tools and on-site specialist support. Their hands on
model helped us identify gaps, prioritise remediation, and build local leadership so improvements stick.

Our reform-readiness audit focused explicitly on new-Act readiness and the Strengthened Standards, giving us a candid baseline and a practical roadmap for improvement. Audits drive real change, from sharper documentation and stronger medication safety to tighter clinical governance. For residents, this means fewer surprises and faster fixes.

3. Workforce management: streamlining rostering, payroll and care tracking

Meeting care-minute responsibilities and 24/7 registered nurse coverage is about matching workforce to resident need and being able to prove it. We use Humanforce for rostering, award interpretation and integrated payroll, with credential tracking and compliance alerts. This allows us to design safe
rosters, reduce avoidable agency use, and generate auditable time-and-attendance data that aligns with QFR/ACFR reporting.

For residents, it means more predictable teams and skill-mix, fewer last-minute changes, and care time that reflects their actual needs – supported by data we can stand behind.

Translating reform into everyday improvements

MACG has focused on what will make the most difference to our quality of care, including giving our residents a louder voice. We have strengthened ways for residents to express preferences, participate in care planning, and choose who supports them, including culturally safe care models.

The Strengthened Standards set clearer expectations for clinical safety, food and nutrition, infection prevention and consumer dignity. Our policies, audits and training translate those expectations into daily practice.

Care minutes and RN coverage are planned, delivered and evidenced each quarter, not guessed. Ensuring we have the right people, with the right skills, at the right time.

We’ve also strengthened complaint pathways and protections so concerns can be raised without fear and addressed promptly, before issues escalate into incidents.

At the same time, registration, audits, public reporting and financial transparency are increasing. We welcome this scrutiny because residents and families deserve to see how we’re performing and should hold us to account.

Governance that fuels learning and improvement

We take governance and risk seriously by redesigning how quality and risk information flows so it reaches the right people who can act on it quickly.

• Board oversight with teeth: Our MACG board now has a clear risk appetite for resident harm, standing agendas for Rights and Quality, and a cadence that follows the data (QFR, staffing, incidents), not the calendar.
• Line-of-sight metrics: We maintain end-to-end traceability from a resident’s plan to the roster to the minutes reported. The upcoming Care Minutes Performance Statement audit crystallises this discipline; we are audit-ready by design.
• Learning system, not blame system: External audits and quarterly policy refreshes are built into our continuous improvement cycle, with rapid “find-fix-verify” loops to close risks.

A call to think differently, for us and for the sector

For rights to be real, they must be measurable in daily experience. Was I listened to? Do the staff know me? Could I take the kind of risks that make my life mine?
The aged care sector will earn trust when providers can answer those questions with evidence, and residents can feel the difference on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. The new Act gives us the framework – and it’s on us to make it felt.

Readiness is not a finish line on 1 November. Our residents should expect and see continuity of familiar faces, care that reflects their priorities, and confidence that if something isn’t right, it will be fixed, quickly and transparently. That’s the promise of a rights-based Act lived out in practice. It’s why MACG chose to invest early, partner widely, and anchor our reforms in things residents can actually feel.