The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) is working with residential aged care providers unable to meet their 24/7 RN requirement due to staff shortages, and to date there have been no cases that have warranted formal compliance or enforcement action, Commissioner Janet Anderson has revealed to The SOURCE.
David Reece (pictured), AdventCare CEO, spoke to The SOURCE about working with the ACQSC on his inability to meet the 24/7 RNs requirement at their Yarra Ranges regional aged care home, in Warburton, nearly 80km north of Melbourne, due to staff shortages in the region.
AdventCare submits data on 24/7 RN coverage monthly to the regulator, and details the 'alternate arrangements' it has in place at its Warburton home as it is not able to meet the target.
"At our Yarra Ranges we've probably got about 50% coverage but we have alternate arrangements from a regulatory point of view," David said.
The Quality Commission provides a questionnaire for providers to complete that makes it easy for them to details their alternative arrangements.
"It basically gets us to tell them, do we recognise our clinical needs. What do we do? What happens if something happens overnight? How do we escalate? So all the things that we're doing," David said.
"So the Commission is getting a profile of each of the providers, which is great because they know what we're doing," he said.
"There have been a small number of cases where we have required providers to submit a plan for continuous improvement to show how they were working to meet the requirements," the Commissioner said, however, the "overwhelming majority" of aged care homes are meeting the 24/7 coverage requirements.
"While we are assured that these services are providing safe quality care, we expect them to be working hard to comply with their obligation to provide 24/7 RN care," she said.
Anika Wells promised homes would not close over 24/7 RN's
In the lead up to the introduction of mandatory 24/7 RN coverage, the Minster for Aged Care Anika Wells and Ms Anderson said homes would not close if the target is not met and the regulator would work with providers unable to meet the new rules.
The comments were made in recognition of the fact the sector was short thousands of RNs, a fact that remains today. Last year, the Government told Senate Estimates that the sector was short 8,100 RNs.
The Commissioner said the regulator will continue to take a fair and sensible approach to regulating providers’ compliance with these obligations.
"In any circumstance where we find that residents in a particular aged care home are at heightened risk of harm, we will not hesitate to take regulatory action to protect the safety and wellbeing of those older people."
David has been working with a consortium of Victorian and Tasmanian providers to lobby the Government to include ENs in the RN requirement. A report on alternative models of care is with the Government.
AdventCare will take part in a pilot to track ENs as part of the Quality Indicator program.
