Aged Care Quality Bulletin #77 - May 2025 | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

Commissioner’s message

Yesterday, the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler MP, and Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, the Hon Sam Rae MP, announced that the start of the new Aged Care Act will be briefly deferred to 1 November 2025.

Our commitment to support sector readiness for the new Aged Care Act continues at pace through our engagement and release of guidance material.

There was an overwhelming interest in May’s sector webinar on Compliance and Enforcement which explained how we’re supporting providers to meet their obligations and manage compliance risk.

We continue to update information and resources to support the sector in preparation for the new Act and strengthened Quality Standards.

We’ve updated our draft evidence collection tools to help you to better prepare for an audit against the strengthened Quality Standards. The way we do audits is changing under the new Act. This includes the way we collect evidence and the kinds of evidence we look at.

The Provider Governance Policy will also come into effect on 1 November 2025. It explains the principles of good governance and our expectations of registered providers’ governance arrangements.

For a summary of all the resources we released in March and April to help you get ready for the new Act and Standards, watch episode 2 of our sector readiness update. The updated version of our Sector Readiness Plan which is now live on our website, includes the resources we shared with the sector throughout May.

We’re also gearing up for our National Aged Care Provider Conference 2025, from 29–30 July at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

If you have registered to attend in person, and not yet registered to attend the dinner, I encourage you to do so quickly as tickets are now limited. You can either modify your registration directly or email agedcare@thinkbusinessevents.com.au to update your registration.

Although in-person registrations are closed, you can still register to participate virtually. Get in quickly before our virtual registrations are at capacity.

Liz Hefren-Webb
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

Aged care reform update

Priority actions for providers before and after 1 November

The new Aged Care Act will start from 1 November 2025. It’ll put the rights of older people at the centre of aged care.

To help providers prepare, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (department) has released a priority actions list.

It explains the key steps you must take under the new Aged Care Act and the new Support at Home program. This includes:

informing residents and home care participants about their rights and protections
updating service agreements, digital systems and complaints processes
making sure your workforce is trained and understands new obligations
changing over to the Support at Home program (for home care providers)
meeting new financial and regulatory requirements.

Check out the range of training and resources on the department’s website to stay on track for 1 November.

Sector readiness update

Each month we release resources to help providers, workers and older people get ready for the new Aged Care Act.

For a summary of what we released in March and April, watch episode 2 of our sector readiness update.

This video series highlights new resources we’ve published to help you better understand and prepare for the new Aged Care Act, including:

learning modules and workshops on the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (accessed via Alis)
Code of Conduct for Aged Care materials
a complaints handling checklist
resources for First Nations providers and workers
videos on the provider registration process
the Quality Standards Resource Centre.

For a full list of all our reform resources, as well as a preview of what’s to come, read our Sector Readiness Plan.

You can also watch episode 1 of our sector readiness update for an overview of what we released in January and February.

Now available: Policy on provider governance

We’ve just released our policy on provider governance. It’ll come into effect with the commencement of the new Aged Care Act.

The Provider Governance Policy explains the principles of good governance and our expectations of registered providers’ governance arrangements. It outlines:

why providers need good governance to deliver safe, high-quality care to older people
what registered providers need to do to meet their obligations under the aged care legislation
how we regulate provider governance.

We’ll provide a range of guidance materials to support the policy in the lead-up to November 2025.

For more information on how to strengthen your governance arrangements, visit our Governing for Reform Program page.

Updated audit evidence collection tools

We’ve updated our draft evidence collection tools to help you better prepare for an audit against the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards.

The way we do audits is changing under the new Aged Care Act. This includes the way we collect evidence and the kinds of evidence we look at.

As part of the new audit process, providers will need to complete the audit evidence collection tool (AECT) when applying to register, renew registration or vary registration in categories 4, 5 and 6. If they’re renewing their registration, they’ll also need to complete the care delivery evidence collection tool (CDECT) for each service we audit.

Consultation and revised tools

We previously made early versions of these tools available to use in testing and to give providers an idea of what to expect during assessments. After consultation and testing, we’ve updated the tools to:

reduce duplication
better reflect the audit process
promote efficiency.

The updated tools replace the draft pre-audit preparation tool and request for information templates.

We use the AECT to collect evidence about the provider’s or applicant’s systems and processes, and how they deliver high-quality care to older people. The tool is different for each type of audit. They include:

We use the CDECT to collect evidence about how a provider uses their systems and processes at a service. The tool helps us assess if a provider consistently applies systems and processes across approved residential care homes (for registration Category 6 providers) and a sample of care and services they’re delivering at targeted locations (for Category 4 and 5 providers). The tool includes:

These tools are draft, as we need to wait until the Aged Care Rules (including the Aged Care Quality Standards) are finalised before we can finalise the tools. We’re providing them to you to help you to understand what evidence you’ll need during an audit, and how you can prepare.

You can also use the tools outside of an audit to help ongoing improvement.

Personal care worker definition for care minutes

The definition of personal care workers and assistants in nursing (PCW and AIN) for care minutes in residential aged care changed on 1 January.

This reflected changes to the Aged Care Award 2010 and distinguishes PCWs and AINs from other aged care workers, such as lifestyle coordinators.

In the updated definition, a worker can only be classified as a PCW if:

they’re employed under the direct care categories on the Aged Care Award 2010, or an equivalent enterprise agreement
their primary responsibility (more than 50% of their role) is providing personal care services under the supervision of a registered or enrolled nurse.

Personal care services

Personal care services can include:

supporting residents' daily living activities
supporting residents’ personal hygiene, physical and cognitive needs
helping with medical treatments and procedures.

For the PCW definition only, one-on-one social and emotional support isn’t a personal care service. But it’s still considered a direct care activity. This means you can count it towards care minutes, but only if it’s provided by a PCW, registered or enrolled nurse.

Why the change?

This definition change was based on feedback and information from providers through the reporting assessment process and engagement.

You can find the updated definition in Section 2.2 of the Care minutes responsibility guide.

For more information about care minutes, visit the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.

Guide on transitioning to registered supporters

From 1 November, registered supporters can help older people make and communicate their own decisions about aged care, if they want or need support.

A new guide is available to help you understand how representative relationships in My Aged Care will transition to the new registered supporter role.

The guide covers:

supported decision-making and the role of registered supporters
what older people and their existing My Aged Care representatives can do before 1 November
opting out of a registered supporter relationship before 1 November
what the registered supporter role is replacing
what the changes look like for each person
where to go for more information.

Read the guide and find out more about registered supporters.

Targeted review on home care compliance

Are you a home care provider who has grown in the last 12 to 24 months?

From June to October, we’re doing a targeted review on home care compliance.

If you’ve experienced more than 50% growth in the number of people receiving care over the last 12 to 24 months, we may select you to be part of this review.

Our review will focus on:

the relationship between rapid growth in people receiving care and an organisation's ability to meet its clinical and personal care obligations
strategies providers have used to manage risks to do with rapid growth
the assurances and evidence providers can offer to show their strategies are working.

Targeted reviews raise awareness of provider responsibilities and help us assess how well they understand their obligations.

They allow us to better support and educate all providers, and work with them to fix any issues.

More information about targeted reviews is available on our website.

Our reports

New insights report: Liquidity Standard

We have published a new Insights Report on our targeted review of the current Liquidity Standard. Under this Standard, providers must set, manage and maintain their minimum level of liquidity (MLL). Liquidity is the ability to quickly and easily change assets into cash.

We reviewed 30 providers across the country and found most providers complied with the Standard.

However, we found some gaps in providers’ knowledge about their responsibility to have and maintain a written Liquidity Management Strategy (LMS). Some providers didn’t:

include what their MLL was in their LMS
record a liquidity amount in dollars in their LMS, only that they planned to maintain their MLL
maintain their MLL over a past period
regularly review and update their LMS.

Our report identified several things that providers should review and implement:

Make sure you have a documented LMS that covers your liabilities, expenses and MLL.
Make sure your LMS includes what it aims to achieve, identified risks and explanation for how you worked out your MLL.
Regularly review and update your LMS.

The report also provides tips and advice on your MLL, investment management strategy, governance and staff.

From 1 November 2025, a new Liquidity Standard will be introduced. You can read more about this in the draft new Financial and Prudential Standards.

You can view our Insights report on our website or email us at F&P.reviews&audits@agedcarequality.gov.au with any questions.

Food, nutrition and dining

Teaming up to create nutritious and appealing menus

Mealtimes are more than just a break in the day for people in aged care. They’re essential for health, dignity and enjoying life.

It’s important to make meals nutritious. However, they also need to be appealing to people, so they want to eat them and receive the benefits.

Planning and creating a menu that is healthy, safe and tasty takes teamwork.

The team

Residents can give you feedback about meals.
Chefs and cooks have the expertise in running kitchens and making tasty food that looks good.
Dietitians are experts in nutrition.
Speech pathologists assess people’s eating and drinking ability.

A team that works together to create menus can design and adapt them to suit each service and its residents.

If you use the same menu at more than one aged care service, make sure it meets the needs of the residents at each service. What works at one service may not work at another, because people may have different:

cultural needs
dietary preferences
health needs.

Set up a well-structured process to create menus. Combine feedback from residents, involvement from allied health professionals and the expertise of chefs and cooks when doing menu reviews.

Food, Nutrition and Dining Survey – we want your feedback!

We publish a range of food, nutrition and dining resources and education products to support the aged care sector, including:

older people, family members and other representatives
aged care providers
aged care workers.

We’re inviting you to participate in a short survey to help us understand how well this information has supported the sector and what we could do better.

Your responses will help improve how we communicate with and support the sector to:

meet regulatory requirements
make sure the safety and wellbeing of older people accessing aged care services.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

The survey will close on 29 June 2025. Complete the survey.

Don’t miss out on a free menu and mealtime review

Applications are open to all providers of residential services for a free menu and mealtime review program. This includes National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program and multipurpose services.

Places are limited, so apply today before the program closes on Monday 9 June 2025.

The menu and mealtime review program: 

is free and confidential
is done onsite by an independent accredited practising dietitian
helps you meet the new strengthened Quality Standard 6: Food and nutrition
provides customised feedback and recommendations.

The review isn’t a regulatory activity, and we don’t get a copy of the review report. The report is confidential to the provider, residential service and the assessing dietitian. 

The program runs to 30 June 2026. Learn more on our website.

Clinical update

Improving access to vaccination records

Preventable diseases such as COVID-19, influenza, pneumococcal disease and shingles are significant causes of illness and death in older people.

A recent survey of clinical staff and providers found that not being able to easily access an older person’s immunisation records can get in the way of providers delivering vaccinations in a timely way. This is because they need to be able to find out quickly if people in their care are up to date with their vaccinations.

Facility and clinical managers can now apply for a residential care facility to become a recognised vaccination provider. They can also get access to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). This makes it easier to:

tell which people in their care are due or overdue for vaccines
make sure each resident’s vaccination status is accurately reported.

Making sure that older people living in aged care get their vaccinations (and boosters) when they’re due is a vital part of delivering high-quality, person-centred care.

What is the AIR?

The AIR is a national immunisation register. This includes COVID-19 vaccines, vaccines given under the National Immunisation Program (NIP), and vaccines given privately, such as for seasonal influenza or travel.

Read our full article for more information.

National Palliative Care Week – The essentials

This year National Palliative Care Week was held from 11–17 May. We are proud to support palliative and end-of-life care that is done in a person-centred and inclusive way. With our ageing population, Australia will have a 50% increase in the need for palliative care over the next 10 years. Palliative Care Australia is the national peak body for palliative care. Their current campaign – What's Your Plan? – encourages a person-centred approach to early discussions about what matters most to a person at the end of their life.

Read more about dignity and choice in palliative and end-of-life care in our full article.

Webinars

Recording available – Compliance and enforcement

The recording and presentation slides are now available for our webinar, Compliance and enforcement held on 20 May 2025. We explained how the Commission will supervise providers under the new Aged Care Act, how we’ll monitor compliance risk and when we might use new powers, including use of conditions on registration. We also discussed the types of situations in which we may consider taking court-based enforcement action under the new Aged Care Act.

Training and resources

Online live learning

Places are available for our upcoming live learning sessions in June. 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 June 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 | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to learn more or register today.

Recorded presentations

We now have a range of recorded presentations that we have adapted from workshops we’ve run in the past. You can view these recordings at any time through the Alis platform.

Support at Home training now available

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has released Support at Home training for aged care providers.

The self-paced training will help providers and aged care workers understand and prepare for the Support at Home program.

There are 2 learning packages:

Learning Package 1: Program Overview – the fundamental elements of the program. Suitable for all staff.
Learning Package 2: Delivering Services – recommended for care partners, managers and operations staff:
- assessment process and service delivery
- short-term pathways
- service agreements, care plans and budget planning
- claiming and payments.

Learning Package 1 and module 1 of Learning Package 2 are available now, with more modules added soon.

Find out more and access the training packages on the department's website.

For more resources for providers on Support at Home, including the Program Manual and Transition Guide, visit Support-at-home.