Aged Care Quality Bulletin #75 - March 2025 | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

On this page:

Commissioner’s message
Consultations
Aged care reform update
Food, nutrition and dining
Clinical update
Webinars
Training and resources

Commissioner’s message

We continue to roll out resources to help you prepare for the commencement of the new Aged Care Act and the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards from 1 July. To keep up with the new resources as they come out and what’s coming next, I invite you to regularly check our sector readiness plan. We update the plan monthly with links to completed resources and dates for those still to come.

Some of our latest Quality Standards resources include tailored information for workers and governing body members through our online guidance tool. You can filter and read or print information relevant to the type of care you provide and your role.

For an overview of the Quality Standards, our registration and audit policies and procedures, I recommend watching or revisiting our Bringing the strengthened Quality Standards to life webinar held earlier this month. It was a great discussion between us and the Department of Health and Aged Care to clarify processes and answer your questions.

Our public consultation on cost recovery and charging arrangements for providers is still open for a few more days. This consultation will close on 1 April, so please have your say before then. The proposed new charges will apply to providers when they register, renew or vary their registration.

Registrations are filling fast for this year’s National Aged Care Provider Conference, ‘Navigating the change – Rights and regulation’, on 28 to 29 July at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. We expect to reach our 1,000 in person capacity in the coming days. We will then open virtual registrations, around mid-April.

Liz Hefren-Webb
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

Consultations

Reminder! Have your say on proposed new fees

Consultation on proposed new fees for providers after 1 July 2025 is still open.

We’re asking for your feedback by midday on 1 April (AEDT) on the proposed new charging arrangements for providers to register, renew or vary their registration.

Our Cost Recovery Consultation Paper is available on our website.

This consultation paper:

explains the activities we may charge for
lists the proposed new fees and how we calculated them
explains the proposed eligibility criteria to have fees waived.

We’ll use your feedback to understand the impact the proposed new fees might have. It will help us develop our advice to government on the fees and waivers that will apply to our regulatory activities from 1 July 2025.

Visit our website to have your say.

Consultation closes midday AEDT on 1 April 2025.

For questions about the cost recovery consultation, visit our website or contact us on 1800 951 822.

Aged care reform update

Latest resources on the strengthened Quality Standards

Aged care workers and governing body members can now get tailored strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards guidance through our updated digital guidance tool.

The online tool helps providers, workers and governing body members find information relevant to the type of care they provide and their role.

Choose your registration category and role to get:

an overview of the Standards that will apply to you from 1 July 2025
detailed guidance on each of the relevant Standards
examples of key tasks to support you to comply with each Standard.

You can view the guidance online or print a copy.

The guidance is still in draft. We’ll finalise it when the strengthened Quality Standards come into effect from 1 July 2025.

Online learning

Put what you’ve learnt into practice with these 2 new resources available on Alis in April:

Case study learning modules: These new courses use case studies that can help you and your workers understand what the strengthened Quality Standards look like in practice. Using a scenario, learners explore the actions they can take to provide care that meets the strengthened Quality Standards. The case studies focus on clinical care and managing transitions, with modules for both residential and home care settings.
Live learning: We’re offering new strengthened Quality Standards live learning sessions in April. These sessions use the same case studies to look at how to apply the Standards in real-world settings. Learners will explore aspects of the Standards in greater detail. Sessions for both residential and home care settings will be available.

Register for Alis to access online courses and live learning.

Sector readiness plan – updated monthly

Our sector readiness plan helps you prepare for the new Aged Care Act. The plan gives you a high-level overview of the resources being released from January to June 2025. It has information about the resource type, who it’s for, and once published, links to the resources.

As subordinate legislation and consultation rounds are finalised, there may be changes to the products we’ll deliver and when we’ll publish them. To make sure you’re informed, we’ll update the plan monthly to include any changes.

You can access the sector readiness plan from our website. Please refer to the live version to make sure you have the most up-to-date information.

New First Nations resources for providers, workers and older people

With the new Aged Care Act comes stronger rules and standards to better protect the rights of First Nations people. This includes having their identity and culture respected when receiving aged care.

To support First Nations providers, workers and older people receiving aged care, we’ve created new resources to help providers and workers understand their obligations when providing care to First Nations older people. These include:

Workplace posters: specifically relating to Standard 1 (the individual) and Standard 6 (food and nutrition), and about First Nations peoples' rights when accessing aged care.
Conversation guide: to support First Nations providers, workers, older people and advocates to have conversations about aged care.

We’ve also created resources for First Nations people about when they’re eligible for aged care, how to access it, their rights and how to speak up if they’re worried about their care. These include:

Visual information sheets: about First Nations peoples’ rights when accessing aged care.
Visual storyboards: about First Nations peoples' rights when accessing aged care and how the Commission can help when they’re worried about their aged care.

In addition, a suite of video case studies suitable for providers, workers, First Nations people and their families and carers are available. They explore what good aged care looks like from the perspectives of First Nations older people.

All resources were co-designed in collaboration with key First Nations stakeholders including aged care sector peak bodies, providers, workers and older people.

For more information about how the Commission is supporting First Nations providers, workers and older people, visit the Commission’s First Nations Hub.

Providers encouraged to update GPMS

The provider registration preview is the next step in the aged care provider deeming process.

It will give you the opportunity to review your registration details and proposed registration categories before the new Aged Care Act starts.

As this approaches, the Department of Health and Aged Care (department) encourages providers to check their contact details are up to date. You can do this through the Government Provider Management System (GPMS) or by contacting your funding arrangement manager.

Watch this video for more information about the provider registration preview.

For technical support with GPMS, please contact the My Aged Care service provider and assessor helpline on 1800 836 799 and select option 5.

Visit the department’s website for more information about the new regulatory model, or email AgedCareRegModel@health.gov.au.

Support at Home program manual

To help providers get ready for the coming changes, the Department of Health and Aged Care (department) has released an early version of the Support at Home program manual. The program manual is a general guide for providers on what the aim of the Support at Home program policy is.

The manual covers:

care management
care planning
service delivery
participant contribution
budgets
restorative care
end-of-life services
assistive technology and home modifications.

The information in the manual may change. The department will publish an updated version of the program manual once the Aged Care Rules legislation is finalised. The program manual is not legal or professional advice on the legislation or how it applies to individual circumstances.

Use the online version of the program manual to make sure you have the most recent version.

Read the program manual here: Support at Home program manual

More information about Support at Home program

New resources are available on the department’s website for home services providers about the Support at Home program including:

New reports on provider financial and prudential responsibilities

We have published 3 new reports to help raise awareness of providers’ financial and prudential responsibilities. The reports have come out of targeted reviews with providers we’ve conducted recently.

Insights report – Room price approvals and publishing

We knew that some providers had charged refundable deposits, or the equivalent daily accommodation payment, above the maximum amount without approval. After investigating, we found that overcharging was mainly because of administrative errors, or gaps in processes and procedures, or governance systems.

Insights report – Disclosure Standard

Under the Disclosure Standard, providers need to report on how they comply with the Prudential Standards in their Annual Prudential Compliance Statement (APCS). Providers also need to share specific financial and prudential information with older people receiving care or looking for care.

We found that most providers we reviewed didn’t meet these disclosure requirements. This was often because they hadn’t submitted their ACPS correctly and on time. They also didn’t understand that they needed to share financial and prudential information with older people.

Insights report – Home Care Packages pricing audit

The third report shares findings from an audit we did to check how home care providers were complying with the changes to pricing rules for Home Care Packages. The audit found that most providers complied with the new pricing rules. This meant that they were charging older people correctly.

For more information on our targeted reviews and audits and to read our reports, visit our Targeted reviews and audits page.

Share your feedback by joining our panels

If you want to take part in consultations, workshops and other ways to give your feedback, consider joining one of our panels.

Consumers and Families Panel

The Consumers and Families Panel helps improve aged care through feedback from people who currently use, or are considering using, aged care services. Their carers and family members are also encouraged to take part in the panel.

As a member of the panel, you can:

share what matters to you
provide feedback on aged care projects, resources and services
help improve how we regulate aged care.

Panel members can take part in different ways, including by email, over the phone, or in meetings (online or in person). If you want to join this panel, you can register online or complete a form.

Provider and workers’ engagement register

The Provider and workers' engagement register is a way for aged care providers and workers to share their expertise and experience to support aged care reform.

You can take part as a provider representative, aged care staff member, or both.

As a member of the engagement register, you can:

share your views
help shape processes and resources
contribute to improving how we regulate aged care.

If you would like to join this panel, you can register online.

For more information about how to get involved visit our Consultation and Engagement Hub or email engagement@agedcarequality.gov.au.

Food, nutrition and dining

Supporting people to be independent and involved in mealtimes

Independence is important to everyone, including people living in aged care homes. Being independent improves a person’s quality of life.

As people age, they usually aim to stay independent and complete everyday tasks themselves. These tasks can include planning and preparing meals and enjoying meals with others.

Read our full article for tips to support independence and encourage residents to get involved in making their dining experiences more enjoyable and personal.

There are many ways to encourage and maintain independence through the mealtime experience in aged care services. No matter our age, we all have skills to bring to the table!

Clinical update

Advance care planning week

The theme of this year’s National Advance Care Planning Week (19-23 March) was ‘Make your choices matter’. We recognise the work Advance Care Planning Australia does to raise community awareness and encourage us all to start planning for our future health care.

All health and aged care professionals have a role in supporting older people to discuss, plan and document their preferences, values and choices. Aged care providers can support these processes by:

having effective policies and procedures in their clinical governance
training staff in advance care planning, including the local state or territory laws
having advance care planning information available and accessible for older people and their representatives
having quality improvement and review processes to monitor their advance care planning practices.

From 1 July, under the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (Outcome 3.1: Assessment and planning), aged care providers must have effective clinical governance systems and processes. These need to support advance care planning that:

supports each person to discuss their future medical treatment and care needs, in a way that meets their needs, goals and preferences. This includes their beliefs, cultural and religious practices and traditions
supports each person to complete and review advance care planning documents, if and when they want to
supports each person to nominate a substitute decision maker for health and care decisions, if and when they want to
make sure that they store, manage and use advance care planning documents with relevant parties, including at transitions of care.

All older people, including those with cognitive impairment, have a right to make their future health preferences known and respected.

Taking part in advance care planning is a personal choice. Approved providers of aged care services have a role in supporting advance care planning. But they can’t make an older person take part in advance care planning. Advance care planning is a voluntary and ongoing process. It should be discussed and reviewed as the older person’s situation and preferences change.

Advance care planning conversations should be part of an older person’s ongoing health care planning and introduced early.

Further information:

Advance Care Planning Australia
Advance Care Planning Australia free e-learning modules for aged care workers and health professionals
National Advance Care Planning Advisory Service: 1300 208 582.

Hearing Awareness Week: changing mindsets

Hearing Awareness Week is held each year in the first week of March. We support this annual event to highlight hearing loss and ways of addressing this important issue.

This year’s theme 'changing mindset: empower yourself to make ear and hearing care a reality for all', is a call to action. We urge providers and clinical staff to make it easy for older people in their care to get access to hearing tests and to find solutions to hearing loss to improve their quality of life.

Hearing loss increases with age:

about half of people aged 60 to 70 have some hearing loss
70% of those aged 70 and over have some hearing loss
80% of those aged 80 suffer some degree of deafness.

There are treatment options available. This makes diagnosis important.

Hearing loss can lead to serious issues affecting quality of life, including social withdrawal, isolation, and loneliness. Simple pleasures, such as enjoying a telephone conversation with an old friend or family member, listening to music, or hearing the TV and radio, can become difficult.

This can make depression and dementia worse. Recent research also suggests a link between untreated hearing loss and Alzheimer’s disease in older people.

Ways to improve the effects of hearing loss include:

hearing aids
assistive devices such as telephone amplifiers or technology that changes spoken words to text
training to use visual cues to figure out what is being said (speech reading).

Further information

Department of Health and Aged Care: Ear health in Australia

Deafness Forum Australia: Training resources for hearing assistance in aged care and hospitals.

Webinars

Recording available – Bringing the strengthened Quality Standards to life

The recording, presentations and resource links are now available for our 18 March webinar, Bringing the strengthened Quality Standards to life. The strengthened Quality Standards will replace the current Aged Care Quality Standards on 1 July 2025.

Hosted by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Liz Hefren-Webb, the webinar covered:

key differences between the current Aged Care Quality Standards and the new strengthened Standards
how complying with the strengthened Quality Standards will be a condition of registration for providers registered in categories 4, 5 and 6.

Provider registration

Tuesday 15 April 2025, 2.00pm – 3.00pm AEST

Registrations open 2 weeks before the event through our website.

Compliance and enforcement

Tuesday 20 May 2025, 2.00pm – 3.00pm AEST

Registrations open 2 weeks before the event through our website.

Training and resources

Sign up for online live learning

Our current interactive online learning program has been running since 2019, and you’ve provided some great feedback. We’re listening to what you’ve told us and we’re taking the opportunity to make changes to the way we deliver live sessions.

The main changes we’re making:

renaming the program to live learning, rather than workshops, to reflect the range of sessions which will be available
converting some of our current sessions into recordings, which you can access on-demand through the Alis platform, so that we can focus on creating new sessions
expanding the range of self-service resources like PowerPoints, toolbox sessions and lesson plans to use with your teams in your own service.

Places are available for our upcoming live learning sessions in April. Each month, we deliver live learning for people working in the aged care sector. These sessions offer practical tips to support learners to understand how to meet their obligations in their service. Commission facilitators deliver our live learning sessions.

Our workshop topics for April are:

The strengthened Quality Standards - Preparing for the changes in residential and home services – practice applying the strengthened Quality Standards to a real-life case study to support your preparation.
Effective Incident Management Systems – explore your Incident Management System (IMS) obligations. Learn how to use your IMS to keep improving.

Places are limited, so head to Live learning to learn more or register today.

New to the Governing for Reform in Aged Care Program?

We provide free governance education products such as online learning modules and guides for governing body members and leaders of aged care providers. These products help you to strengthen your corporate and clinical governance skills.

An easy way to get started with the program is our For the Board Kits. These are designed to support provider governing bodies to engage and discuss key governance topics and issues related to the aged care reforms. Download our For the Board Kits to improve your board meetings today.