13/10/2022
The Australian Parliament has passed the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Act which introduces a new method of funding residential aged care and requires Government to to publish star ratings for residential aged care services. It also extends the Serious Incident Response Scheme to aged care delivered in a home or community care setting from 1 December 2022.
NATSIAACC was successful in persuading Government to include an exemption for Aboriginal Community Controlled aged care providers from being required to have a majority of board members who are independent from the organisation. Clients and relatives or close friends of clients and staff would not be deemed to be independent which would make it difficult for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to be aged care providers. Government also exempted ACCOs from needing a person with clinical experience to be on the governing board.