From the 1 April, six new categories will be added to the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program.
Under the program, residential aged care providers are required to report on five areas of care: unplanned weight loss, pressure injuries, physical restraint, falls and major injury, and medication management.
But from Saturday, providers will need to report on a further six areas of care:
- activities of daily living – the percentage of care recipient who experienced a decline in activities of daily living
- incontinence care – the percentage of care recipients who experienced incontinence-related dermatitis
- hospitalisation – the percentage of care recipients who had one or more emergency department presentations
- workforce – the percentage of staff turnover
- consumer experience – the percentage of care recipients who report ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ experience of the service
- quality of life – the percentage of care recipients who report ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ quality of life.
In a tweet promoting the introduction of the new QIs, Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells said: “We’re shining a new light on the quality of aged care.”
Residential aged care providers must start collecting the new data in the April-June 2023 quarter and submit a report no later than 21 July.
Introducing new quality indicators by July this year aligns with recommendations of the aged care royal commission.
The QI program aims to:
- provide government with system-level measures of quality in aged care and an evidence-based platform to inform policy and regulation
- ensure providers have robust, valid data to measure and monitor their performance and support continuous quality improvement in the care they provide to aged care recipients
- give older Australians, care recipients and the community transparent information about the quality of aged care to assist with decision making.
It requires specific methods for collecting, recording, submitting, and interpreting information about the quality indicators.
Providers can learn more by accessing the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program Manual 3.0 – Part A.
Comment on the story below. Follow Australian Ageing Agenda on LinkedIn and Facebook, sign up to our twice-weekly newsletter and subscribe to AAA magazine for the complete aged care picture.
