Accreditation of commencing services

Accreditation of commencing services lasts for one year.

It’s available for:

commencing residential services
commencing flexible care services that contain short-term restorative care (STRC) in a residential care setting.

We class residential services as commencing services when:

an approved provider has allocated places for the service
the service hasn’t provided residential care for those places
the service isn’t currently accredited and hasn’t been in the past.

An STRC service is commencing if:

the STRC is in a facility where care is through a residential service
that residential service is a commencing service.

Services aren't commencing if:

the approved provider has changed
the location of the service has changed
the service has closed for renovations.

Applying for accreditation

To apply, approved providers must:

complete the Application for Accreditation form
undertake continuous improvement for their service
pay an application fee
provide any other information we ask for.

At least 3 months before people enter your service, contact your local Commission office.

We’ll discuss your accreditation and give you the necessary forms.

State Commission offices

Commission office	Email address
Queensland	qldreports@agedcarequality.gov.au
New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory	nsw_act@agedcarequality.gov.au
Victoria, Tasmania	vic_tas@agedcarequality.gov.au
South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia	sa_nt@agedcarequality.gov.au

The decision process

We’ll decide on accreditation within 14 days of receiving a valid application.

When deciding, we consider:

the details in the application
information from the Department of Health and Aged Care
the provider’s commitment to continuous improvement
any other relevant information.

Decision to accredit

When accrediting a commencing service, we provide:

a Certificate of Accreditation
the reasons for our decision
areas for improvement
information about applying for reaccreditation.

We also publish the decision on our website.

Decision not to accredit

If we decide not to accredit a commencing service, we’ll explain the reasons for the decision.

Providers can apply for reconsideration within 14 calendar days of the decision.

Monitoring accredited services

We check compliance through assessment contacts and review audits.

We usually have an assessment contact within 2 months of people moving into the service. We also conduct an unannounced assessment contact in the first 12 months.