Aged care commissioner’s greater powers working: Lamb

Australia’s Aged Care Commissioner Rae Lamb has said new powers introduced last year to strengthen her role have improved the outcomes of complaints to the Aged Care Complaints Scheme.

Rae Lamb
Rae Lamb

Australia’s Aged Care Commissioner Rae Lamb has said that new powers introduced last year to strengthen her role have improved the outcomes of complaints to the Aged Care Complaints Scheme.

Since 1 August 2013 the Commissioner has been able to order the Department of Social Services to re-examine a complaint and take particular matters into account. Previously the commissioner could only recommended this action be taken if she found fault with the scheme’s decision.

Ms Lamb said that as a result of her greater powers some complainants have received better information, outstanding issues have been addressed, action has been taken to improve aged care services and aged care services have been encouraged to apologise where it is due.

“For example, in one case my examination resulted in a complaint being looked at and upheld by the Scheme and action was taken to improve aspects of an aged care service, when previously the complaint was not going to be investigated at all,” she wrote in her annual report tabled late last month.

It is gratifying to see that by independently examining the decision, directing that there be a new process, and reviewing and making comment on any further findings by the Scheme before they are finalised, we add value where it is needed.”

Last financial year, Ms Lamb directed the scheme to re-examine 11 complaints. In four of the 11 cases, the Commissioner’s direction resulted in the aged care service having to apologise and acknowledge failings to the care recipient.

In other cases referrals have been made to the Quality Agency, advice have been developed for the industry or the scheme has issued a notice of intent to issue directions, where the scheme sets out concerns and gives the service an opportunity to respond.

The Commissioner exercised her new powers in 48 per cent of complaints since 1 August 2013.

As part of the changes, the complaints scheme must also now provide its draft findings to the Commissioner and take into account any further comments she makes.

The reforms sought to address criticisms the commissioner’s role has been a ‘toothless tiger’, without powers to enforce her decisions.

In 2013-2014, the number of complaints received by the commissioner increased by 7 per cent to 96 complaints. However, this represent only a small percentage of the total of numbers of complaints that go to the scheme. Complaints about the Quality Agency continue to be low.

The vast majority of complaints received by the commissioner came from aged care recipients and their families rather than aged care services and related to decisions made by the scheme, followed by scheme processes such as the time taken to investigate a complaint.

Ms Lamb said the complexity of complaints has also been increasing. She wrote:

“There have also been a small but significant number of individual complainants making multiple complaints about decisions and processes of the Scheme. This has led to some large and complex examinations, involving many issues.”

In 2013-2014, the complaints scheme had accepted 88 per cent of the Commissioner’s recommendations to improve processes with two recommendations outstanding. The scheme did not reject any recommendations.

Elsewhere, following concerns raised by complaints to the commissioner’s office and in the media, Ms Lamb has introduced a new initiative in May 2014 to examine the intersection between the complaints and accreditation systems.

In particular, the Commissioner will examine the information referral process for concerns about aged care services from the complaints scheme to the Quality Agency.

“The Commissioner considers it is in the public interest to have effective processes to ensure that systemic concerns arising from complaints are appropriately referred to organisations in a way that allows these matters to be promptly followed up and necessary action taken,” she said.

Tags: aged-care-commissioner, annual-report, complaints, dss, rae-lamb,

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