industry & policy
Surprise visits
Industry reacts to news that unannounced site visits
for reaccreditation will become standard to ensure
providers maintain quality care expectations.
By Dallas Bastian
A
ustralian residential aged care providers soon
won’t be notified of reaccreditation reviews as the
minister for aged care adopts a recommendation for
unannounced visits.
The minister, Ken Wyatt, said the new system will help ensure
safe quality care standards are maintained at all centres at all times.
The recommendation was one of many to come from
the recent Review of National Aged Care Quality Regulatory
Processes. Wyatt said the government will move as soon as
possible to implement it while it reviews the rest of the report.
Report authors Kate Carnell and Professor Ron Paterson said
the initial accreditation visit will be announced, followed by
unannounced visits that are conducted over at least two days and
assess residential service performance against all standards.
“High-performing residential services with a low risk profile will
have fewer visits so the care quality commissioner can focus on
facilities with higher risk,” the authors said.
12 agedcareinsite.com.au
Carnell and Paterson said Australian Aged Care Quality Agency
data over the past five years demonstrates that unannounced site
visits are more effective than announced site visits at identifying
non-compliance, but added most are conducted over one day
and not all outcome measures are assessed.
“There was a strong view expressed by consumers, their
families, advocates and aged care workers in aged care homes
that announced visits are staged,” they said.
“It is understandable that facilities want to perform well during
accreditation visits. However, this approach to monitoring care
places emphasis on passing accreditation rather than delivering
high quality care all the time.”
Contributors to the review signalled a concern that the
current system of alerting facilities to an upcoming accreditation
encourages band-aid practices and window-dressing to ensure
the facility presents itself in the best possible light.
Consumer advocacy body COTA Australia said the review
“belled the cat” by recommending that the focus of government
accreditation should shift to unannounced visits and that the
“gloves be taken off the complaints process by giving it real teeth”.
Ian Yates, COTA chief executive, said older Australians and
their families have the right to expect that their concerns and
complaints about poor quality services and care are taken