Seven weeks after the Federal Government’s requirements for 24/7 Registered Nurses came into effect, the Department of Health and Aged Care has finally signed off on the first exemptions for aged care providers.

39 exemptions have been approved as of 15 August, a Department spokesperson told The Weekly SOURCE.

You can find the full list of exempt aged care homes here.

Exempt homes are required to have alternative clinical care arrangements in place such as on-call Registered Nurses or local GPs or access to clinical support via telehealth.

However, some providers are still waiting for approval. The Department said that 54 exemptions have been submitted – excluding those that did not meet the exemption eligibility criteria or were subsequently withdrawn.

As The SOURCE reported last month, only 42% of eligible aged care homes had applied for 24/7 RN exemptions.

70 eligible aged care homes not seeking exemptions

The Department has confirmed that around 70 facilities that meet the MMM 5-7, or 30 bed or less exemption eligibility criteria, are not seeking an exemption at this stage.

“Around 80% of those that are eligible for an exemption that have not applied reported delivering 24/7 RN coverage in July,” said the spokesperson.

“An additional 9% of these facilities reported delivering over 20 hours per day on average, and so meet the 24/7 RN supplement eligibility threshold.”

The 24/7 RN supplement – which is set at a maximum of almost $80,000 – is available to facilities with, on average 60 beds or less, who have an RN on-site and on duty for an average of 20 hours per day over the month.

Those facilities that don’t apply for an exemption – but are not close to have an RN on-site 24/7 – won’t receive the supplement whether they have an exemption or not.

Grant Thornton’s National Head of Health and Aged Care, Darrell Price, said the Department's own data shows 81% of aged care homes have 24/7 RN coverage, which is a “marginal” improvement since the Minister of Aged Care said in July last year that 80% of facilities had met the 24/7 RN requirement.

The SOURCE: The Department’s figures still leave 11% of homes which are eligible for an exemption and have yet to apply yet are not meeting the eligibility criteria for the RN supplement. Will the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) be pursuing compliance action against these operators?