The new aged care standards 2019 require compliance across a range of clinical and operational activities for residential aged care and home care.
Being Proactive with the New Aged Care Standards
If you’re new to aged care, or like most, learning about the new standards we can help you quickly understand them and identify what’s most important. With busy schedules and constant interruptions many services find auditing challenging. A common problem is that audit schedules are often fixed and aren’t flexible to changing needs. Audit results often don’t reflect your true compliance picture or monitor your more pressing risks.
Whether it be lack of staff skill, limited time or focus to find and address gaps, we can help you wherever you’re at – for example, identifying and addressing gaps and implementing effective solutions. We’re skilled at tailoring a practical continuous improvement plan that will help you to focus and give you peace of mind.
One of the major changes required by the new aged care quality standards is for you to show how you partner with Consumers in your service. You must also demonstrate that you identify, manage and report clinical risk. This includes reporting Mandatory Clinical Indicators. We help you to do this.
It’s ideal to spot problems before the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (Quality Commission) does. Many Boards, owners and executive teams make the mistake of relying on the Quality Commission to determine their service’s compliance for them. When things go wrong, this puts a service at a distinct disadvantage, reactive rather than well prepared. It’s essential that you remain on the front foot, can easily detect problems and make corrections early.
What to do if Your Aged Care Organisation is Non-compliant
If you suspect that your organisation may be non-compliant or at risk of non-compliance with the new aged care standards, know this can be corrected. But it is best to act early. Some organisations are able to work through issues on their own, but most benefit from fresh eyes and independent expertise. Our third party audit will provide you with a very comprehensive review of just what’s wrong and importantly, a tailored plan to show you how to fix it.
Aged care non-compliance issues may arise from complaints to the Quality Commission and may be anonymous. The first you may know is when a compliance officer calls you for an explanation.
When complaints are not able to be quickly resolved often that’s when you need external expertise to mediate quickly and avoid non-compliance or further non-compliance.
If the Quality Commission has already issued you with a non-compliance we can help you develop, implement and close out your Timetable for Improvement.
How AgeWorks Advises and Supports Organisations to Rectify Issues
AgeWorks can provide advice and practical assistance across all accreditation areas. We have years of clinical and operational experience and a track record of working on the ground with individuals and teams.
A key part of what we do is ensuring a clinical governance framework is effective for sustainability and there is accurate and timely reporting. We have significant expertise in helping people overcome the fear of change which often blocks compliance. We are skilled at communicating with Boards and helping guide your managers to ensure all of your organisation is in alignment.
The Biggest Mistake CEOs and Managers make with the New Aged Care Standards
The Royal Commission into aged care has demonstrated many instances of poor care where services have been assessed as compliant by the regulator only to be exposed as providing very poor clinical care in a very public forum. The Royal Commission has demonstrated how Consumers are coming forward in large numbers and have a much more influential voice.
Reliance on the Aged Care Quality Commission for compliance is a common mistake which may prove fatal to your business. When non-compliance is called by the Quality Commission, it’s often widespread, much more expensive to fix and difficult to close out quickly. Failure to respond to timelines then increases the risk of costly sanctions.
Our Compliance Process
A key part of our process is to undertake a gap analysis of your site against the accreditation standards. As the standards are relatively new, some areas are evolving such as the issue of chemical restraint. We can help keep you up to date, prioritise and assist you to address your main risks.
Our typical process would be a desktop audit, followed by an onsite gap analysis. This usually takes one to four days (depending on the size of your organisation and situation) followed by a report.
If you’re thinking about having an independent review, we’d be happy to talk to you about it.
Why Choose AgeWorks for Compliance Assistance?
At AgeWorks, we don’t like superficial fixes. We help you identify the root cause of your problem and find the right solutions. Our core expertise is helping you to achieve stable compliance through a healthy workplace culture. Our experience enables us to spot and address unhealthy patterns quickly.
AgeWorks consultants are very tuned into the needs of Consumers and how services need to adapt in unprecedented times. We have demonstrated our commitment and believe Consumers will be re-assured by our input and ability to consult with them as part of your quality improvement process.
Aged care can be very technical. We delight in helping customers easily understand compliance so they feel confident, become self-reliant and free from the worry of non-compliance.
For more compliance related information, check out how AgeWorks provides assistance with Aged Care Sanctions.
Call AgeWorks today on 0417 017 763 for a chat about compliance and getting on track with the new aged care quality standards.