The Aged Care Bill 2024 (Cth) passed Parliament on 25 November 2024 with bipartisan support. The Act, to come into force on 1 July 2025, forms the centrepiece of the government’s response to the 148 recommendations contained in the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality’s Final Report.
The changes brought in by the Bill are significant and have wide impacts for aged care recipients, their families and providers.
Some comments on a few of the significant areas of change for aged care providers:
Statement of Rights
The Statement of Rights is the keystone of the Act. It introduces a set of rights which care recipients now have within the aged care system. These rights are not enforceable. However, acting in a manner consistent with these rights is a condition of registration. A failure to do so could result in a loss of registration for the provider - and fines.
Conditions of Registration
Aged care providers are now required to satisfy a range of conditions before they can receive government approval and funding to provide services. These conditions replace and expand-on the ‘Responsibilities’ introduced in earlier reforms. These new conditions are enforceable by fines and are requirements that apply at all times.
These new conditions cover a range of areas (e.g. financial management, corporate governance, worker screening and access to support). The conditions also require providers to develop policies for continuous improvement, privacy, whistleblowing and incident management.
Duties of Care
Providers and their ‘responsible people’ owe duties of care to recipients. ‘Responsible people’ are those who control the operations of the provider, but this only applies to those who have management level control (e.g. CEO, Board).
The duties of care:
Civil penalties apply for breaches of the duties that amount to a ‘serious failure’, with higher penalties where the breach causes death, serious illness or injury to a care recipient.
What does this mean for your business?
These are just some changes from the new Act that will impact providers. There are many other considerations. It is important for providers to monitor the development of the new Act, its implications and to take necessary steps to ensure the provider’s operations comply with the new changes and its operating model is appropriate. We can advise on how the new Act applies, and what you can do between now and 1 July 2025 to be prepared.
The Aged Care Rules are still in the public consultation phase. This means there is opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to important components of the new scheme. We can help with preparing submissions.
Article written by Partner, Adam Henderson and Graduate, Rafael Owen.