As an aged care registered provider, you will need to meet requirements under the Aged Care Act and Aged Care Rules relevant to your registration category or categories. These requirements will depend on the services you deliver or are funded to deliver.
Use the Aged Care Provider Requirements Search tool to find your requirements.
Statement of Rights
Providers and workers are required to recognise the rights of older people under the Statement of Rights.
It sets out older people’s right to:
- make their own decisions about their own life
- have their decisions not just accepted, but respected
- get information and support to help them make decisions
- communicate their wishes, needs and preferences
- feel safe and respected
- have their culture and identity respected
- stay connected with their community.
You must ensure aged care residents and home care participants are aware of their rights and protections including the Statement of Rights, as well as the new registered supporter role and changes to participant information.
Statement of Principles
The Statement of Principles guides how the Australian Government, aged care providers and workers must behave and make decisions.
In delivering aged care services, aged care providers should:
- put older people at the centre of their aged care
- treat older people as unique individuals
- empower workers and support a diverse, well-trained workforce
- recognise the role of families, carers and advocates.
You are accountable to the people who access your aged care services and your aged care workers. You should always aim to improve and innovate, try new ideas and ways of working.
Aged Care Quality Standards
The Aged Care Quality Standards set the standard for the safety and quality of aged care services. They set expectations for the level of care providers must deliver to ensure older people have access to high quality, safe and respectful care.
There are 7 Quality Standards define what good aged care looks like and supports delivery of quality, person-centre care:
- The person
- The organisation
- Care and services
- The environment
- Clinical care
- Food and nutrition
- The residential community
See the Aged Care Provider Requirements Search tool to find which Quality Standards apply to your services.
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) is the Australian regulatory of aged care services. The ACQSC regulates and monitors providers compliance against the Quality Standards.
Download the ACQSC resources and complete training.
Mandatory Quality Indicator Program
The National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program records data on 11 quality indicators across critical areas of care that affect the health and wellbeing of aged care home residents.
Residential aged care providers must report to us on these 11 quality indicators every 3 months.
This provides an evidence base to support continuous quality improvement.
Star Ratings for residential aged care
Star Ratings for residential aged care provides a clear and transparent way to compare the quality of residential aged care homes via the My Aged Care, Find a provider tool. It enables:
- older people, their families and carers to make more informed choices about their care
- aged care providers to monitor, compare and improve the quality of their aged care home across nationally standardised benchmarks.
Star Ratings Compliance rating
Compliance ratings show whether a home has a regulatory notice, which are issued by the ACQSC if the home isn’t providing safe and high-quality care.
Compliance ratings are also based on:
- what type of notice a home has been given
- how long a home has no notices for
- how long a home is granted accreditation for by the Commission.
Non-compliance with the Quality Standards affects Star Ratings for homes with sanctions or notices to improve.
Compliance ratings are updated daily for regulatory decisions and weekly for changes in accreditation decisions.
Find out more about Star Ratings and how they are calculated.
Restrictive practices in aged care – a last resort
Providers must minimise the use of restrictive practices in residential aged care. You must also meet specific requirements before you can use them.
Find out more about restrictive practices in aged care.
Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)
The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) helps to reduce abuse and neglect of older people receiving aged care services. It applies to residential aged care, home care and flexible care delivered in a home or community setting.
It sets requirements for providers about managing and taking reasonable action to prevent incidents to protect older people’s:
- safety
- health
- wellbeing
- quality of life.
It also requires providers to notify the ACQSC if specific incidents occur. Use the ACQSC SIRS decision support tool to see whether you need to report an incident.
Medication management
Electronic National Residential Medication Charts (eNRMC) facilitate safe and accountable medication management in services providing residential aged care.
Use ACQSC resources to help you choose and use an appropriate system for your service.
How we assess quality
The ACQSC is the Australian regulator of aged care services, it ensures aged care providers:
- comply with their requirements under the Act
- work in an open and ethical way to support older people.
The ACQSC will complete an audit of providers in certain registration categories to make sure they comply with legislated requirements, including the Quality Standards, before registration and renewal.
If a provider doesn’t meet the Quality Standards, the Commissioner can take action, like cancelling their registration or giving them a fine.