Aged Care Standards – All Things Aged Care

Home care providers – Know your rights and obligations

If you provide goods and services to a consumer, in particular those with a Home Care Package, you need to make sure you are complying with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which includes the Australian Consumer Law. This is in addition to your responsibilities under the Aged Care Act 1997 and other relevant legislation.

There are some simple things you can do to make sure you are doing the right thing for your clients, and meeting your legal responsibilities. For example, you should:

always give clear, honest and complete information about your service to consumers, this includes information displayed on the My Aged Care website
give them time to make their decisions and ask for help if they need to
avoid pressuring consumers and adopting commission-based business models which might lead to pressure selling
make sure all the terms in your agreements are fair for all parties
provide a clear and easy dispute resolution process, this will benefit your business in the long run.

New resources

Information is available to help providers and consumers understand their rights and responsibilities. You can find these resources on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission website.

Aged Care Standards

Transition to new Aged Care Quality Standards

July 1, 2018July 2, 2018 All Things Aged Care

July 1, 2018 was not only the launch date for the All Things Aged Care website but also the date from which the transition begins to new Aged Care Quality Standards for all Commonwealth aged care services.

The Aged Care Quality Standards, developed as part of the Single Quality Framework, will replace the current four sets of aged care standards:

Accreditation Standards
Home Care Standards
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program Quality Framework Standards
Transition Care Standards.

The final draft Aged Care Quality Standards consists of eight standards. These standards are:

Standard 1 Consumer dignity and choice
Standard 2 Ongoing assessment and planning with consumers
Standard 3 Personal care and clinical care
Standard 4 Services and supports for daily living
Standard 5 Organisation’s service environment
Standard 6 Feedback and complaints
Standard 7 Human resources
Standard 8 Organisational governance.

Each of the eight draft standards includes:

a statement of outcome for the consumer
a statement of expectation for the organisation
organisational requirements to demonstrate that the standard has been met.

Click here for more information about the transition to the new standards – which are expected to be fully implemented by this time next year.