2023 aged care rankings: NSW’s top and lowest rated homes revealed
New figures have rated all 830 aged care homes in NSW – showing more than 30 facilities are falling below ‘acceptable’ standards. Use our tool to search the full list.
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New figures have revealed more than 30 aged care homes in NSW are falling below ‘acceptable’ standards as the federal government pushes ahead with major reforms to improve the health of the sector.
The Department of Health has rated all 830 aged care homes in NSW as part of latest star ratings released last month.
The publicly available quarterly rankings are based on an aged care home’s compliance performance and history.
The figures revealed four facilities in NSW received a rating of just one star – meaning ‘significant improvement is needed’.
All four facilities were in regional NSW and include the Uralba Retirement Village at Carcoar, Anglican Care Storm Village at Taree, Lee Roshana Care at Blayney and Macleay Valley House at Frederickton.
A further 27 homes received two stars, meaning ‘improvement is needed’ while a further 408 homes received an ‘acceptable’ ranking of three stars.
A total of 339 homes received a ‘good’ ranking of four stars and nine facilities received the top ranking of five stars.
The facilities to receive five stars included Catholic Healthcare Bethlehem House, Willoughby Retirement Community Hostel, Montrose Aged Care Plus Centre, Southern Cross Care Tenison, Goulburn Residential Aged Care, Anthem, Wallsend Aged Care Facility, Our Lady Of Consolation Nursing Home and Maybanke Aged Care Plus Centre.
The star ratings are partly based on inspections of aged care homes carried out by the Aged Care Quality Safety Commission (ACQSC) which checks homes against eight key compliance standards including the clinical care of residents.
An inspection report by the ACQSC of Lee Roshana Care in May states the facility was not compliant with all eight standards of compliance.
The report stated: “bowel management, nutrition and hydration, wound care, pressure injury care, diabetic management, nutrition and hydration, behaviour management and sleep management are not consistently in line with best practice or tailored to (residents’) needs to optimise their health and wellbeing”.
SEARCH EVERY AGED CARE HOME IN NSW
An audit of the Uralba Retirement Village at Carcoar carried out in June showed the facility was non compliant with seven of the eight key standards used to assess homes.
Concerns raised during the inspection included a lack of on site qualified clinicians to administer medications to residents, and delays in identifying instances of infections among residents.
Anglican Care Storm Village at Taree was non-compliant with seven of the eight key standards used to assess homes. An audit report of the facility released in January states residents were not always treated with dignity including instances of staff speaking “disrespectfully” to residents and “not listening” to them.
A spokeswoman for the centre stated the one-star rating was a result of a sanction imposed on Storm Village by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) in January. The spokeswoman said Storm Village was no longer under sanction and had been re-accredited.
An audit of Macleay Valley House in December showed the home was not compliant with the key quality standards of consumer dignity and choice, human resources, and personal care and clinical care.
Macleay Valley House, Lee Roshana Care, Uralba Retirement Village were contacted for comment about the latest star ratings but did not provide a response to questions at the time of publication.
The latest star ratings come as the federal government pushes ahead with major reforms to the aged care sector which to date has included a wage increase for aged care workers and a requirement for registered nurses to be on site and on duty 24 hours a day
From October 1, all aged care homes will have to meet individual care requirements based on a sector average target of 200 minutes of care per resident per day.
According to the Department of Health, the ratings system can assist the relatives of people in residential aged care to understand how a facility is performing.
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