League tables on Australia’s best and worst nursing homes must be public, Senator Stirling Griff says

A South Australian senator will lobby the Federal Government to make public league tables which name Australia’s best and worst performing aged-care providers.

Powerful crossbench Senator Stirling Griff will back a push to make the new aged- care league tables publicly accessible.

The rating system, designed in SA by SAHMRI, combines 12 key measures to show how every nursing home is performing, and will also soon include every home-care provider.

“League tables lift everyone’s game and provide insights that enable the public to make informed choices,” Senator Griff told The Advertiser.

“It is a must that these are made publicly available.”

The Centre Alliance senator said SAHMRI had done “outstanding work” with its Registry for Senior Australians team, which conducted research on public reporting for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. SAHMRI’s system rates nursing home performance based on key indicators including weight loss, pressure sores, falls, fractures, use of sedatives, opioid and antipsychotic drugs, pain management and premature mortality.

“The data they produce is always robust and without peer,” Senator Griff said.

Opposition health and ageing spokesman Mark Butler said: “Transparency and clear information about aged-care facilities is a crucial step in fixing Scott Morrison’s aged-care neglect.”

South Australian senator Stirling Griff will lobby the Federal Government to make public league tables which name Australia’s best and worst performing aged-care providers.

Mr Butler said choosing a provider or nursing home was “one of the hardest decisions a family has to make” and they should have as much information as possible.

He said that as minister for ageing in the Gillard government, he had committed to develop a rating system that would be published on the My Aged Care website.

Mr Butler said he looked forward to seeing recommendations from the Royal Commission, which reports on Friday. SAHMRI researchers have raised concerns that the Royal Commission would not make the system public and instead recommend a more costly and limited model.

SAHMRI executive director Professor Steve Wesselingh said: “We think consumers should have more information about the sorts of services that are provided and the quality of those services.”

A spokesman for Aged Care Minister Greg Hunt said the work was commissioned by the Royal Commission, and it “would therefore be a decision for the Commission on its publication”.

But he added: “The Minister supports greater transparency on quality standards in residential aged care.”