Aged-care plan omission slammed by Labor

Clare O’Neil says the Morrison government’s new serious incidents response scheme fails to also protect elderly Australians who are being cared for at home.

Labor aged-care services spokeswoman Clare O’Neil.

Labor aged-care services spokeswoman Clare O’Neil says the Morrison government’s new serious incidents response scheme — designed to report ­instances of abuse and psychological harm at nursing homes — fails to also protect elderly Australians who are being cared for at home.

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) legislation requires providers of residential care to manage serious incidents and take “reasonable steps” to prevent them.

But the scheme, which was recommended in 2017 and is only being legislated now, has been attacked by Labor for failing to cover Australians that receive care at home.

Ms O’Neil said it was a ­“ridiculous omission” as the ­system failed to protect four out of five aged-care recipients.

Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck said he understood consumers ­expected continuity of care and the govern­ment had committed to a feasibility study to test using a similar scheme in home and community care settings. “The study is being undertaken by KPMG and is expected to be finalised by late June and will inform government decisions on a SIRS for home and community care — just as ­previous studies have for the ­current legislation,” Senator Colbeck said.

The need to have an effective reporting system for serious incidents that occur for all aged-care recipients was an explicit submission of the counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which is due to hand down its final report at the end of this month.

Labor unsuccessfully moved amendments to call on the government to explain their plan to address the gap, and is also understood to be consulting stakeholders on the issue.

It comes as National Seniors Australia Chief Advocate Ian Henschke said he was shocked by a royal commission report that found more than one in three nursing home residents were hospitalised at least once in 2018-19 for reasons that were “potentially preventable”.

The same report said the number of elderly Australians requiring hospital care had soared by 20 per cent over the past five years, with the number of hospitalisations for falls and malnutrition increasing by 24 and 19 per cent respectively over five years.