Sanctions

What are sanctions?
Sanctions are conditions which may be placed on an approved provider by the Department of Health and Ageing (DHA).

While it is the Agency that recommends sanctions, it is DHA which imposes them. The Agency makes such recommendation when:

• non-compliance at a residential aged care home represents serious risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of residents
• a residential aged care home fails to rectify non-compliance by the end of a timetable for improvement
• following a site audit or review audit that provides evidence of non-compliance and the Agency believes recommending sanctions is warranted.

The sanctions DHA may impose will depend upon the action required to address the areas of non-compliance or serious risk. DHA will decide the timeframe for sanctions.

Go to the Department of Health and Ageing website for information on sanctions.

How are the residents involved?
Residential aged care homes are encouraged to tell residents and their representatives when sanctions are imposed, including their duration and exact nature. The sanctions, and any processes the residential aged care home has in place to resolve the issues which lead to sanctions.

What does the Agency do when sanctions are imposed?
The Agency will give information and evidence to the approved provider of the area where it considers the level of care for residents to be unsatisfactory, or the kinds of serious risk identified. The approved provider is also given a copy of the recommendation the Agency makes to the Department of Health and Ageing.

The Agency continues to monitor residential aged care homes during the sanction period to ensure care for residents is not compromised and that progress is made against areas of non-compliance.

What is publicly available?
When DHA imposes sanctions on a residential aged care home, the Agency places a statement on the front page of the residential aged care home’s accreditation report on the website stating sanctions have been imposed on the residential aged care home and a link to the sanctions page on the Department of Health and Ageing’s website is provided