There are three major components of SIRS that must be implemented by aged care providers providing care and services to consumers in home and community settings.
Incident management obligations
You must have effective systems and practices in place for preventing and managing all incidents. This includes using an Incident Management System (IMS).
Continuous improvement
You must use the data from your IMS to drive quality improvement in your service.
Serious incident reporting and response
You must notify the Commission of any reportable incidents and report to police where there are reasonable grounds to do so, in addition to managing incidents through your IMS.
Under the SIRS, providers must take all reasonable steps to reduce the risk of serious incidents. This means you are required to:
Incident management systems (IMS)
An IMS is a system used to prevent, manage and respond to incidents. Your service must have an effective IMS to manage and respond to all incidents and near misses to minimise the risk of reoccurrence. It is important for you to be familiar with these processes so that you can report and/or record an incident or near miss in your IMS if that is part of your role.
What is an incident?
Incidents include any acts, events, or omissions that occur (or are suspected to have occurred):
- in connection with your provider’s service
- that have harmed, or could have been expected to harm, a consumer or another person.
Your home service provider must work to manage and prevent all incidents that occur in connection with care.
Incidents in connection with care
The home service environment presents unique challenges for managing incidents. You and your workers must understand the distinction between incidents that occur in connection with care, and those that do not. Incidents in connection with care include the following:
Incidents not in connection with care
Workers may also witness incidents that are not connected with care. This may include acts committed by members of a consumer’s household or community who are not affiliated with you. While incident management and prevention requirements do not apply to these incidents, you still have a broader responsibility to protect the safety, health and wellbeing of consumers. You must take protective steps when you become aware of neglect or abuse (including suspected or alleged incidents) of consumers.
If an incident may be unlawful, such as a physical assault, or if there is any ongoing danger to any person, your service should contact the police.
You should also support consumers dealing with elder abuse or other issues by connecting them to further assistance, such as:
- OPAN website – the Older Persons Advocacy Network provides free, confidential, and independent support to older people seeking or receiving care and their families or representatives.
- 1800 ELDERHelp (1800 353 374) – a free and confidential National Elder Abuse phone line.
Reportable incidents in connection with care
Reportable incidents include those that have harmed, or could have been expected to harm, a consumer in connection with care. These incidents must be reported to the Commission. See the Reportable incidents page for guidance.
An incident is not reportable if consumers have been unaffected. This includes where other individuals may have been harmed, such as workers or other household or community members. When in connection with care, such incidents must still be recorded and managed according to your IMS.
Reporting to police
If you become aware of an incident that is potentially or likely to be criminal in nature, this should be reported to the police. This should be reported regardless of whether the incident is in connection with care.
