Key terms

The Act sets out the legal definitions for key terms within the aged care system. 

[Chapter 1 – Part 2 – Division 2]

High quality care

The Act defines high quality care to encourage funded aged care services to be delivered with kindness, compassion and respect. This means care should prioritise the older person’s experiences, self-determination, dignity, quality of life, mental health, and wellbeing.

What high quality care means:

• Rights-based and person-centred: Every aspect of care should put the older person first and uphold their rights. This includes their rights to make decisions about their care, and choose how they live, even if there is some personal risk.
• Timely and responsive services: Services should be prompt and suit the older person’s needs and preferences.
• Personalised care: Care should be specific to the older person’s goals, wishes and preferences. This includes when and how services are provided.
• Respect for privacy: Care must respect the older person’s privacy and time alone.
• Support for physical and cognitive health: Care should help improve the older person’s physical and cognitive abilities, keeping them mobile and engaged.
• Meaningful activities: Care should support older people to take part in activities that are meaningful to them. Older people should have support to stay connected with friends, family, their community and the natural environment.
• Cultural appropriateness: Services should support the culture and background of older people. They should respect the diverse life experiences of older people.
• Well-trained workers: Aged care workers should be well trained. They should be able to develop and maintain a professional relationship with the older people they care for.

Reportable incidents

Reportable incidents are a key concept in the Act to protect older people. These are serious issues and events affecting older people that providers must report. Reportable incidents include: 

• unreasonable use of force
• unlawful or inappropriate sexual contact
• psychological or emotional abuse
• unexpected death
• theft or financial coercion
• neglect
• use of restrictive practices (other than use that’s in line with the Rules)
• an unexplained absence of the older person in the course of delivering services.

When a reportable incident happens, providers must report it to the Commission. Certain providers must also have a system to prevent and manage these incidents. This supports an open and honest system, making sure providers are accountable. It helps to maintain high standards of care.

Restrictive practices

The Act and the Rules set out the conditions for using restrictive practices. A restrictive practice is any practice or intervention that restricts someone’s rights or freedom of movement. In line with a person-centred, rights-based aged care system, the older person should always be involved in decision-making around the use of restrictive practices, where possible. 

Aged care workers should only use restrictive practices as a last resort to prevent harm. Before using them, workers must consider other options and the impact on the older person. They must also get the consent of the older person, or a recognised substitute decision-maker in exceptional situations. 

There are different types of restrictive practices. Examples of restrictive practices include: 

• using medical restraints or physical force to control the person’s behaviour
• locking away cutlery so the person can’t access it
• putting the person in restrictive clothing or confining them to their room for a period of time.

Significant failure or systematic pattern of conduct

The Act includes the meaning of a significant failure and a systematic pattern of conduct. These are important terms to identifying when a provider or responsible person acts in a way that seriously violates the Act. 

A significant failure is when a provider’s or responsible person’s behaviour and actions are far below the quality of care that is required of them under the Act. A significant failure is usually a single incident or issue.

If a provider or responsible person doesn’t comply with the Act, it’s important to decide if the noncompliance is part of a systematic pattern of conduct. This decision will consider whether the noncompliance:

• is repeated or widespread
• shows that the provider or a responsible person has failed to respond to any complaints about the noncompliance. 

This may include ongoing neglect, abuse or other types of poor treatment that affect a lot of people or happen over a long period. 

The Commissioner may act to address the issues and make sure that the provider complies with obligations in the Act. This can result in civil penalties such as fines.