A new compliance guide has been recently introduced for aged care providers. The aim of the rating system is to improve the transparency around quality of care for aged care consumers and their families.
The Service Compliance Rating , which went live on 1 July, appears under the ‘Find a Provider’ section of the My Aged Care website. It reflects the outcomes of compliance activities including quality assessments and whether the provider is meeting its quality and safety obligations, as determined by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
The Commission hopes that the rating system will help consumers easily compare basic information about the quality of residential aged care providers, facilitating informed decision-making. Providers are rated using a one to four dot rating system, with one dot being the lowest (inadequate services) and four dots being the highest (provider meets all compliance requirements). We have broken down each of the new rating tiers below.
Residential Aged Care Service Compliance Ratings
Speaking with the Australian Ageing Agenda, Minister for Aged Care Richard Colbeck said these ratings reflected each provider’s performance against the new Aged Care Quality Standards, non-compliance notices, current sanctions and notices to agree. Mr Colbeck was optimistic on the impact this would have for consumers.
“The new Service Compliance Ratings provide an easy and effective way for older Australians and their families to consider and compare the quality of care provided by government-subsidised residential aged care services, and to support informed decision making,”
Aged Care Industry Views
Leading Aged Services Australia (LASA), the aged care peak body, has shown support for the new compliance system but still believes the platform has a long way to go in providing a comprehensive picture of aged care providers’ services, one that goes beyond merely compliance.
CEO of LASA, Sea Rooney, made note of this in remarks made to the Australian Ageing Agenda.
“There needs to be extensive work going forward, to broaden the quality indicators and ensure compliance ratings evolve into more holistic indicators that will help people choose the service that best meets their needs.”
While this is a welcome initiative, there is clearly still a lot of work to be done by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to better reflect all measures of quality care, beyond merely compliance.
