Agency visits to homes
The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency Ltd accredits and monitors homes against the Accreditation Standards, through accreditation audits, support contacts and review audits. Review audits and support contacts can be conducted as an unannounced visit.
Even after a home receives accreditation, the Agency continues to monitor homes to ensure residents continue to receive a high level of care and that all standards continue to be met.
Homes are visited at least once a year but some homes are visited more frequently where they require a higher level of monitoring and assistance to improve. All homes will receive at least one unannounced visit per year focussed on care.
At all visits, assessors observe activities and processes in the home, as well as speak with residents, management and staff. It is the home's responsibility to notify its staff, residents and their families that the Agency will be making a visit and that they can speak with an assessor if they wish.
The accreditation audit
‘Accreditation audits’ (also referred to as site audits) occur before a home’s existing period of accreditation expires. At an accreditation audit, aged care assessors visit a home and speak with staff, management, residents and their families, to determine whether the home meets all the Accreditation Standards and expected outcomes. The Agency then makes a decision about whether to accredit the home and how long the home is accredited.
Leading up to an accreditation site audit, a home is obliged to inform residents and relatives about the upcoming audit - informing them when the accreditation site audit will occur and that they have an opportunity to talk to members of the assessment team in private. Interviewing residents and their representatives is an important part of information gathering about a home. The team must interview at least 10 per cent of residents or their representatives; however a significantly higher number is often interviewed. Residents and representatives may also provide written information to the team if they wish.
Most homes, if they meet all requirements, receive three years' accreditation. A home must be accredited by the Agency in order to receive funding from the Australian Government.
Following an accreditation audit, the assessment team prepares a report. The Agency then makes a decision about whether or not to accredit the home, and if so, for how long the home should be accredited. Accreditation audit decisions and reports are published on the Agency's website under Reports on homes.
Support contacts
Registered aged care quality assessors visit the home for a variety of reasons:
§ to monitor the home's compliance with the Accreditation Standards and responsibilities under the Aged Care Act 1997
§ to supervise the home’s process of continuous improvement
§ to help a home with its continuous improvement program
§ monitoring a home's progress against its Timetable for Improvement or other program to remedy previously identified non-compliance
§ identifying whether there is a need to progress to a review audit
§ to conduct an education session, known as QUEST. In other documents it’s described as - provide additional information or training
Following a support contact, assessors prepare a report and the Agency then decides whether the home is compliant and whether or not more or less visits are required in the future.
Homes receive at least one unannounced support contact each financial year.
Review audits
A review audit is a more extensive audit of the home against all the Accreditation Standards and can take up to a few days with a team of assessors.
A review audit is conducted if:
§ the home may not be complying with the Accreditation Standards or other responsibilities under the Aged Care Act 1997
§ there has been a change in provider or key personnel at the home
§ there has been a transfer of places from one home to another (increasing the number of residents)
§ there has been a change to the premises
§ the home has not complied with arrangements made for support contacts
§ requested to do so by the Department of Health and Ageing
§ following a review audit, the team prepares a report. The Agency then makes a decision about whether the home retains its accreditation period unchanged, or whether it should be varied, or revoked.
Review audit decisions and reports are published on the Agency's website under Reports on homes.
Unannounced visits
An unannounced visit is a support contact or review audit that is carried out by an assessment team without prior notification.
Unannounced visits are conducted as part of the Agency's ongoing role in monitoring aged care homes' compliance with the Accreditation Standards.
Every home will receive at least one unannounced visit each year.
For more detailed information click "For homes" under Accreditation in the left hand menu.
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