Aged care standards at a federal level will be upgraded for the first time in 20 years. Federal Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said the previous framework was “fragmented”.

“The single Aged Care Quality Standards replaces the four previous sets of aged care standards,” he said.

The minister said the new standards aimed to make “market-focused improvements” focusing on quality for consumers and cutting out the “red tape” for aged care recipients and providers.

One non-compliance is one too many

Janet Anderson

The commission swallows up functions of the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency, the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner and the Department of Health’s aged care regulatory functions. The aim is to “have more jurisdiction to help,” according to Ms Anderson.

“So, we’ll be solving complaints, monitoring quality and also educating providers, the wider community and recipients on rights, access and funding,” she said.

Ms Anderson said “already a lot work” has been done in terms of monitoring safety, complaints and accreditation of providers from recipients and families' information. But, more scrutiny is on the table.

Mr Wyatt said “dozens of new compliance officers” would take the Commission’s staff numbers up to over 400. The unannounced auditing started in July 2018 but the Commission would ramp it up by tripling the number of unannounced re-accreditation audits.

There will be over 3,000 unannounced inspections.

The Commission has also made an easy complaint portal.

Mr Wyatt said individuals can register their concerns online anonymously, call the Commission’s 1800 951 822 number, post them, or email through their link.

On top of the deeper engagement with recipients, Mr Wyatt said a chief clinical adviser would be appointed for the first time to “oversee quality” and “strengthen links with medical professionals”.

"Managing the use of restrictive practises will be a priority," he said. "This will include raising awareness about limiting it amongst providers, healthcare professional and consumers.”

Restrictive practises includes detention, seclusion, physical restraint, mechanical restraint (tying someone to a chair), chemical restraint (sedative) and electronic (tracking bracelets).

Ms Anderson said she had not formally appointed the position, but her vision revolved around an “expert in age care” who provided clinical advice to those managing complaints, audits, reviews.

Ms Anderson said the commission's spotlight was on consumer engagement.

"We’re requiring that aged care providers engage with consumers/aged care recipients in a quick manner where care providers must now come up with a best practise plan that the recipients are also in agreement of," she said.

On the off-chance that the issue is severe, Ms Anderson said it was open to the Department of Health to sanction.

"They can’t accept any further individuals, we’ll establish regulations and provider must address deficiencies on a timetable," she said.

Council of Ageing WA chief executive Mark Teale said “much is left to be seen” on the commission’s effectiveness at these functions.

"We’re keen on the commission but we haven’t had any contact or consultation," he said.

"We’re hoping this changes once it gets underway."

Advocare chief executive Diedre Timms said she would watch the Commission's implementation of consumer engagement with interest.

"I think any measure to improve service quality for seniors is a good outcome, particularly around the new standards," she said. "It’s about residential and home care – clients have to be directly engaged in the decisions about their care."

Ms Timms said the advocacy group has worked closely with the complaints section in the past and will continue to "work closely" with them on Commonwealth-funded aged care services.

MercyCare chief executive Anthony Smith said he was keen to see enhanced services for the care of people living with dementia and "any other forms of cognitive impairment".

"We are hopeful that the outcomes will provide real action ... we welcome initiatives and responses from the new commission such as increased audits of all facilities across the sector [to] provide assurance for the quality of care," he said.

The Commission has a $300 million budget for four years, with $48 million allocated for compliance checks, employment of compliance officers and risk management.