Aged Care - Sanctions and Notices of Non-Compliance

Definitions

Defintions for Aged Care Sanctions

The Act means the Aged Care Act 1997

Accommodation Bond

An amount of money that does not accrue daily and is paid or payable to an approved provider by the person for the person's entry to a service through which care is, or is to be, provided by the approved provider. A bond is repayable when the care recipient dies; the care recipient ceases to be provided with care by a service conducted by the approved provider; or the service ceases to be certified.

Allocation of Places

The number of beds in a service which are Australian Government subsidised.

Approved Provider

A person or company or organisation who has been given approval by the Commonwealth government (under Part 2.1 of the Aged Care Act 1997) to provide care which will be eligible for funding by the Australian Government.

Accreditation

The evaluation process which aged care services must undergo to continue to receive Australian Government subsidies (care subsidy) under the Aged Care Act 1997 after 1 January 2001. The process involves a self-assessment by the service, which is then validated by an assessment team by desk and site audits. Following this an accreditation decision is made by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency.

Accreditation Standards

Services applying for accreditation will be assessed against the four Accreditation Standards:

• Management Systems, Staffing and Organisation Development
• Health and Personal Care
• Resident Lifestyle
• Physical Environment and Safe Systems

Each Standard is divided up into a number of expected outcomes. There is a total of 44 expected outcomes across the four Accreditation Standards.

Non-Compliance

When a service does not satisfactorily meet the legislated standards of care and accommodation.

Operators

Approved providers.

Facilities (or Services)

Aged care services which provide high or low care places, or both, often referred to as Nursing Homes and Aged Care Hostels.

Revocation of approved provider status

The withdrawal or cancellation of approval for the operation to provide care which will be eligible for funding by the Commonwealth.

Sanction

A penalty imposed by the Department on operators of aged care services in cases of serious non-compliance with the provisions of the Aged Care Act 1997. The decision to impose sanctions is not taken lightly and includes consideration of issues such as:

• whether non-compliance is minor or serious
• whether it has occurred before; and
• whether it threatens the health, welfare or interests of the care recipients

Different sanctions may be imposed depending on the circumstances of the non-compliance, but they may include revocation of approved provider status, loss of Australian Government subsidies for new care recipients or revocation of allocated places (beds).

When a sanction is imposed, letters are sent to the care recipients of the service and their nominated family members / carers advising then of the sanction, and that the approved provider (operator) has been asked to hold a meeting with the care recipients and families to explain how necessary improvements will be made.