The Final Report

The final report from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Final Report) was tabled on 1 March 2021, and contains significant and sweeping proposals for reform of the aged care sector. This is the first of a series of articles Kinny Legal will release in the coming weeks to examine what these proposed reforms are and how they might change the industry if implemented.

This article

While the Final Report expresses a wide range of concerns about aged care quality and safety, it has identified four areas of concern which the Commissioners have determined require immediate attention:

1.    Food and nutrition.

2.    Dementia care.

3.    Use of restrictive practices.

4.    Palliative care.

These are the first four issues we will explore in this mini-series. This article considers the Commissioners’ findings about food and nutrition and what this might mean for your aged care organisation. The findings are most relevant to residential aged care organisations.

What the Final Report says

The Final Report observed that many witnesses gave evidence about the inadequacy of the quality and quantity of food in residential care. The Commissioners referred to a representative study of 60 Australian residential aged care services conducted in 2017 which showed that “68% of residents were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition”. A clear concern of the Final Report is that poor nutrition in aged care is related to falls, fractures, pressure injuries and unnecessary hospitalisation.

What the Aged Care Quality Standards (Standards) say

The current Aged Care Quality Standard for meals stipulates that “where meals are provided, they are varied and of suitable quantity and quality”. The Final Report observes that this standard leaves much to the discretion of the provider and is not easily enforceable. For example, how “varied” do meals have to be and what does “suitable” mean?

What the Final Report recommends

The Final Report has recommended that the Standards be reviewed, including the Standard for the provision of meals in residential aged care facilities to impose appropriate requirements to meet resident nutritional needs and ensure meals are desirable to eat, having regard to a person’s preferences and religious and cultural considerations.

As a critical first step, the Final Report has recommended that the Australian Government should (no later than 1 July 2021) increase the funding offered to each residential aged care provider with an immediate conditional increase in the Basic Daily Fee of $10 per resident per day. It is recommended that this additional funding should be conditional upon written undertakings, including the that aged care providers will conduct an annual review of the adequacy of the goods and services provided to meet the basic living needs of residents (in particular, their nutritional requirements).

How to respond

The Final Report will almost certainly prompt broad regulatory changes in the aged care sector. This issue was identified as requiring immediate action, so changes could be imminent. Residential aged care providers should make sure they are ready to respond. Appropriate steps to take include:

1. Assessing all policies, procedures, systems, trainings and other controls currently in place relevant to the current Standard.

2. Determining the extent to which they are being implemented in practice.

3. Assessing what your organisation does to monitor and respond to the risk of malnutrition of each consumer and how effective those strategies have been in practice.

4. Assessing what (if any) changes would need to be made in your organisation if the above recommendations were implemented tomorrow.

5. Determining what external help (if any) you would need to make those changes.  For example – lawyers, consultant nutritionists, recruiters.

6. Assessing how confident you can be in each of your above assessments.  For example –how confident are you in the quality and comprehensiveness of the data you have used to make those assessments, and how often is this data being used as part of a continuous improvement strategy?

Need help?

We are repeatedly ranked as one of Australia’s top aged care law firms, and regularly advise residential aged care providers about compliance and risk management strategies. If you need help addressing this issue, or any other aged care compliance matter, please do not hesitate to call us on 02 9199 4563. We would be delighted to assist you.

This blog post does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. It is a general commentary on matters that may be of interest to you. Formal legal or other professional advice should be sought before acting or relying on any matter arising from this communication.