industry & policy seriously, acted on promptly and effectively, and that providers approach solutions in a systematic way.
Yates said:“ COTA supports the recommendations to increase the number and scope of unannounced visits to aged care facilities which should occur no less than once a year.”
The review authors noted criticism that unannounced visits are disruptive for facilities but said feedback received by the Quality Agency following site visits indicates that the level of disruption is not as extensive as some commentators have suggested.
They pointed to a Quality Agency survey of views from 62 per cent of providers following site visits that showed 92 per cent rated assessment teams conducting unannounced visits excellent or very good in relation to allowing staff to conduct their work.
Carnell and Paterson received more than 400 submissions and conducted over 40 consultations with consumers and their families, advocates, peak bodies, service providers, health and aged care workers, academics and regulatory experts.
NEED FOR GREATER CONSULTATION COTA said that the review adopted a number of other recommendations made in its submission, including the need for greater consultation with residents and their families during the accreditation process; a transparent, published complaints process; and the need for a consumer-directed approach in residential aged care that supports the best-performing providers by giving control over bed licences to consumers rather than providers.
In a joint communiqué, the chief executives of Aged & Community Services Australia( ACSA), Leading Age Services Australia( LASA) and the Aged Care Guild said providers need to ensure that catastrophic breaches of standards, such as those identified at the Makk and McLeay wards in the Oakden Older Persons Mental Health Service, never happen again.
“ We will work with the government to support initiatives that are effective in reaching this end,” the chief executives said.
The review’ s authors said the implementation of the recommendations will help prevent a repeat of the regulatory failures that occurred at the Oakden facility.
Yates said:“ The events in South Australia in which Oakden received accreditation despite a long history of horrific incidents at the centre demonstrated systemic failures that had to be urgently addressed, and Minister Wyatt’ s initiation of the Carnell / Paterson review was timely and appropriate.
“ The Carnell / Paterson report contains bold but realistic recommendations to strengthen and sharpen accreditation and complaints processes so that aged care providers uphold their obligation to provide the highest quality of care the community expects and pays for.”
MEETING EXPECTATIONS Sean Rooney, chief executive of LASA, said the community must be assured of the safety, wellbeing and quality of life they expect when they move into a residential aged care facility.
“ We, as an industry, are determined to have regulation that functions effectively to those ends,” he added.
ACSA chief executive Pat Sparrow said:“ If we are to create an aged care sector that truly meets the changing needs of Australians as they age into the future, then regulation must also provide the right conditions for service innovation to thrive.”
The chief executive of the Aged Care Guild, Cameron O’ Reilly, said:“ We support measures to assist in swiftly identifying those operators who do not meet the standards of contemporary practice and consumer need.” However, he added that aged care providers operate in a consumer-driven world and that maintaining a good reputation is crucial to a provider’ s ability to attract consumers.“ This driver is just as important as regulation in delivering the highest quality standards.”
Wyatt’ s office confirmed that the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency will continue to conduct initial accreditation audits in consultation with the provider, to allow them to understand the standards and meet licensing requirements. ■
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