About the 10 Year Forward Plan for Improving Building Quality and Safety
About the Plan
Information on the 10 Year Forward Plan for progressive improvements to building quality in consultation with aged care industry representative groups.
In 1999 a 10 Year Forward Plan for an incremental approach to improvements in building quality was agreed with aged care industry representative groups. The 10 year plan set targets for all aged care homes to:
- achieve mandatory fire and safety standards; and
- meet specific privacy and space requirements.
Fire and Safety
For fire and safety, homes had until 31 December 2005 to achieve a score of at least 19/25 when measured against Question 1 of the 1999 Certification Assessment Instrument.The home must also have achieved an overall score of 60/100 against the instrument.
Expenditure and Accountability Requirements in relation to the Payment of $3,500 per Recipient of Residential Aged Care Services
In June 2004, $3,500 per resident was paid to the approved providers of all Australian Government funded aged care homes (approx $513.3 million in total) in recognition of the increased standards of building quality under the 10 Year Forward Plan, and particularly the higher standards relating to fire and safety. Approved providers were required to use the funds to:- Update or improve fire safety standards, including upgrading existing fire safety equipment to meet state, territory and local government regulatory requirements, to achieve a score of at least 19/25 against the 1999 Certification Assessment Instrument, including:
- Installation of fire sprinklers;
- Updating or improving fire safety equipment; and
- Engaging the services of professional fire safety consultants to advise on possible improvements in fire safety measures to ensure the money is appropriately utilised
- Improving the level of staff fire safety training.
- Invest in building upgrades to meet the benchmarks of the 10 year forward plan for certification.
- Ensure that high care residents, including residents who are ageing in place, are accommodated in buildings of the appropriate building classification.
- Improve the quality and range of aged care services; and/or
- Retire debt related to residential care.
Privacy and Space Requirements
The 10 Year Forward Plan also set new standards for privacy and space for residents and the ratios of toilet and bathing facilities in Australian Government funded aged care homes. This requirement relates to numbers of resident per room and ratios of toilet and bathing facilities. The privacy and space requirements each home must meet depend on whether they are an existing aged care home or a new home.Approved providers have until December 2008 to meet privacy and space requirements.
Further information on privacy and space requirements are in Fact Sheet 3 - Privacy and space in new buildings and Fact Sheet 4 - Privacy and space in existing buildings.
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