Home > For Consumers > Ageing > Publications

Publications

Aged Care Quality and Complaints: Roles and Responsibilities

This fact sheet explains the roles and responsibilities of the Aged Care Complaints Scheme, the Accreditation Agency and the Aged Care Commissioner.

PDF printable version of Aged Care Quality and Complaints: Roles and Responsibilities (PDF 1563 KB)

The Aged Care Complaints Scheme (the Scheme), the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency Ltd (the Accreditation Agency), and the Aged Care Commissioner (the Commissioner) have different roles and responsibilities in the Australian Government’s aged care quality framework. The key differences are:

• The Scheme examines and works to resolve complaints relating to care and services provided to care recipients.
• The Accreditation Agency promotes high quality care through accreditation of aged care homes and by providing information, education and training to the industry.
• The Commissioner is the independent review body for the Scheme’s decisions, for complaints about the Scheme’s processes, and for complaints about the Accreditation Agency and the conduct of its staff.

Each organisation is independent from one another and has different roles and responsibilities.

The Scheme

The Scheme can examine complaints about the quality of care and services provided to people receiving Australian Government subsidised residential or community aged care.

The Scheme may conduct announced and unannounced site visits when examining a complaint. These visits are different to Accreditation Agency visits because they do not assess systems and processes against the Accreditation Standards. Instead, Scheme visits focus on looking into and resolving matters raised by individuals.

If the Scheme finds a problem that may affect more than one person in care, they may refer the matter to the Accreditation Agency while continuing to examine the original complaint. The Accreditation Agency will consider this information as part of its case management of homes. It may bring forward a visit already scheduled, change the scope of a planned visit or hold the information for the next planned visit.

For more information about the Aged Care Complaints Scheme, go to agedcarecomplaints.govspace.gov.au or call 1800 550 552*.

Accreditation Agency

All residential aged care homes must be accredited by the Accreditation Agency to be subsidised by the Australian Government. Registered aged care quality assessors visit homes to assess their performance against the Accreditation Standards set by the Australian Government.

The visits the Accreditation Agency conducts are:

• Site audits (announced) undertaken before a home’s current period of accreditation expires to assess the home’s performance against all 44 expected outcomes across four standards that are outlined in the Accreditation Standards. Each home receives a site audit at least once every three years.
• Review audits (announced and unannounced) undertaken where there is a concern about a home. These visits assess the home’s performance against the Accreditation Standards.
• Assessment contacts (announced and unannounced) which monitor a home’s performance against the Accreditation Standards and assist the home to undertake its continuous improvement process. Each home receives at least one unannounced visit each year.

For more information about the Accreditation Standards and the role of the Accreditation Agency, go to www.accreditation.org.au

The Aged Care Commissioner

The Commissioner can review certain decisions made by the Scheme and examine complaints about the Scheme’s processes for handling matters. The Commissioner makes recommendations to the Scheme based on these examinations.

The Commissioner can also examine complaints about the conduct of registered aged care quality assessors (Accreditation Agency staff) and the conduct of the Accreditation Agency. The Commissioner makes recommendations to the Accreditation Agency based on these reviews.

For more information about the Aged Care Commissioner, go to agedcarecommissioner.net.au or call 1800 500 294*.

Contact the Aged Care Complaints Scheme

Phone 1800 550 552*

Write

Aged Care Complaints Scheme
Department of Health and Ageing
GPO Box 9848
In your capital city

Online Aged Care Complaints Scheme News website at agedcarecomplaints.govspace.gov.au

All information in this publication is correct as at April 2012 D0747

*1800 calls are free from fixed lines; however calls from mobiles may be charged.

Each organisation is independent from one another and has different roles and responsibilities.