20 staff were banned from working in aged care during the March 2022 quarter – 14 permanently – according to the March 2023 quarter Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s Sector Performance Report.
You can see the full list of banned staff on the Aged Care Register of Banning Orders.
Also in the March quarter:
- The Commission received 1,316 complaints about residential aged care, which equates to 0.69% of residents – a very small number.
- Medication management was again the most complained about issue.
- Site audits were up 35% to 490, due to a decrease in COVID19 infections and fewer extreme weather events.
- The number of noncompliant services dropped by 34% to 88, compared with 133 in the December quarter.
- One home was sanctioned, compared with five homes in the December quarter.
- For home care, 1,102 complaints were received, a 17% increase from the December quarter.
- Lack of consultation or communication was the most complained about home care issue.
There’s a great deal of information in the report, which is now 70 pages in length. You can read the report in full HERE.
The SOURCE: Banning orders were included in the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Act 2022, which was passed in August 2022. The Bill introduced a Code of Conduct for aged care staff and gave the Commission the power to ban staff who breached the code. It has long been a view in the sector that aged care workers who do the wrong thing should be prevented from working in another facility. The banning orders were an overdue reform – and the high number of bannings supports this.
