Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved to lift aged care standards to prevent another Oakden tragedy
EXTRA federal nursing home investigators will be hired and aged-care staff will be trained to meet new standards, under plans to prevent another disaster like the Oakden care home.
EXTRA federal nursing home investigators will be hired and aged-care staff will be trained to meet new standards, under plans to prevent another Oakden-style tragedy occurring.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will today announce a $106 million package to improve the standard of care for elderly Australians in residential facilities.
New watchdog, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, will use a $16 million funding boost to hire about 30 additional auditors to enforce standards.
Laws to establish the commission as an independent body will be introduced into Parliament today.
Federal Senior Australians and Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said the Government was taking action to protect older Australians in residential care.
“Oakden was Ground Zero for Australian aged care and we never want to see that happen again’’ Mr Wyatt said.
“We have listened, we have acted and we are totally committed to care.’’
The state-run Oakden Older Persons Mental Health Service was shut down last year after a damning report revealed residents had been over-medicated, physically abused and isolated.
From next week, $50 million will be available to help residential aged care providers and their staff improve quality and standards of care.
Many of the 366,000 staff in the sector will undergo new training to ensure they can comply with new standards, which come into force in July 2019. A new Chief Clinical Adviser will help improve health standards in aged care homes.
The Government will also make $40 million in grants available to help rural and remote aged care services upgrade their facilities.
The $106 million package includes $16 million in new funding that was approved by Cabinet on Monday. The other $90 million was to have been spent over five years but Mr Morrison has decided the funds should be spent immediately. There are expected to be more than 500 unannounced reaccreditation audits of aged care facilities this financial year, along with an additional 2700 unannounced site visits by assessment teams.
The Government will unveil a new strategy to attract and maintain more workers in the rapidly-expanding aged care sector. Mr Morrison will make the aged care funding announcement with Mr Wyatt and Health Minister Greg Hunt.
The May Budget included a $1.6 billion funding boost for home care, to enable more older people to live independently for longer. The Government last week dumped a plan to lift the pension qualifying age from 67 to 70.