The aged care sector is facing further delays in the implementation of key Royal Commission reforms if the Senate does not pass the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021 next week.
As we covered here, the Bill – announced in August 2021 – includes a number of Royal Commission recommendations taken up by the Morrison Government including:
- The Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC)
- Aged care and support worker regulation including pre-employment screening for aged care workers and governing persons of approved providers and a code of conduct for approved providers, workers and board directors.
- Extending the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) to home care from 1 July 2022
- Increasing governance requirements from 1 March 2022 including providing an annual statement on their operations that will be made publicly available and a requirement to notify the Quality and Safety Commission of changes to key personnel
- The establishment of the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
The Bill was due to be passed during the Senate’s February 2022 sitting but failed to be passed through in time.
The Senate is due to sit again next Tuesday and Wednesday with the final day the cut-off to rush through the legislation before May’s Federal election with not sitting dates scheduled for April.
The National Aged Care Advisory Council expressed concern about the Bill being yet to pass in its latest communique for February.
“The Council advised the Department to develop clear contingency plans, should the Bill not pass the Senate,” it states.
We understand that the Bill was delayed due to a number of amendments by the Greens, with the most significant changes being around the aged care worker registration scheme.
Independent Senator Rex Patrick (pictured) was also advocating for a 24/7 Registered Nurse requirement, a recommendation that the Federal Government had yet to come to a decision on.
If the Bill does not make it through, it will mean yet another hold-up for the Royal Commission reform process, which is set to be completed over five years by 2025.
With the latest data showing the financial performance of providers has declined even further, the new Pricing Authority will be particularly critical to ensuring that the real costs of providing care are met by the Government’s subsidies in the future.
Watch this space then.
