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THE HON JUSTINE ELLIOT MP

Former Minister for Ageing

Statement on Australian National Audit Office report into “Building Certification of Residential Aged Care Homes"

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In response to the Australian National Audit Office report into “Building Certification of Residential Aged Care Homes”, the Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, issued a statement on 23 May.

PDF printable version of Statement on Australian National Audit Office report into “Building Certification of Residential Aged Care Homes” (PDF 17 KB)

In response to the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report into “Building Certification of Residential Aged Care Homes”, Minister for Ageing, Mrs Justine Elliot said:

    There are nearly 3,000 aged care homes in Australia. The Department of Health and Ageing is closely case managing 41 of those services -- that have yet to meet the higher Commonwealth fire and safety standards -- to ensure they comply.

    The Department of Health and Ageing advises that the bulk of these works are on track to be completed by the end of this year.

    As for the requirements on privacy and space which are due to be met by December 2008, the Department of Health and Ageing advises that only 144 homes out of nearly 3,000 have not yet met the requirements.

    The Department of Health and Ageing is closely case managing the remaining services through detailed inspections.

    Failure to comply with fire and safety and privacy and space targets means the homes cannot receive the additional aged care funding – which came into effect on March 20.2008.

    The work on some Queensland homes has been delayed by the unavailability of tradespeople due to Cyclone Larry.

    We are working to improve the protection and quality of life of the 170,000 people who live in aged care facilities.

    There has been 12 years of neglect by the previous Government.

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