Serious Incident Response Scheme

This page details the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) for residential aged care providers. For information on SIRS for aged care consumers please visit the SIRS consumers page

SIRS decision support tool

Use the SIRS decision support tool to quickly and easily determine the difference between Priority 1 and Priority 2 reportable incidents.

The tool asks you a series of simple questions about an incident to help you decide whether it must be reported to the Commission.

Go to the SIRS decision support tool

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) is an initiative that helps prevent and reduce incidents of abuse and neglect in residential aged care services subsidised by the Australian Government. It commenced in April 2021.

The SIRS sets out arrangements for approved providers of residential aged care and flexible care (including services provided through short-term restorative care, transition care or multi-purpose services) delivered in a residential setting to manage and take reasonable action to prevent incidents with a focus on the safety, health, well-being and quality of life of consumers.

All approved aged care providers must have an effective incident management system (IMS) in place and to use this to continuously improve the management and prevention of incidents.

In addition to the IMS, residential aged care providers must notify the Commission when 8 types of reportable incidents occur.

Reportable incidents must always be reported within set timeframes depending on the level of harm and/or discomfort caused to the consumer. Please refer to the ‘Reporting timeframes’ section below for more details.

From 1 December 2022, the SIRS will be extended to apply to home care and flexible care delivered in a home or community setting. From that date, home services providers (including Commonwealth Home Support Programme services and flexible care services through which short-term restorative care is provided in a home care setting) will also need to notify the Commission when 8 types of reportable incidents occur.

My Aged Care Service Provider Portal

These reportable incidents must be lodged on the SIRS tile on the My Aged Care Provider Portal

For information on using the portal visit the Department of Health and Aged Care's My Aged Care – Service Provider Portal Resources

Why is the SIRS important?

Senior Australians have the right to feel safe and live dignified, self-determined lives free from exploitation, violence and abuse.

In addition, there are also specific rights and protections for consumers who are receiving government-subsidised aged care services.

The SIRS helps to:

• strengthen aged care systems to reduce the risk of abuse and neglect
• build providers’ skills so they can better respond to serious incidents
• enable providers to review incident information to drive improvements in quality and safety
• reduce the likelihood of preventable incidents reoccurring
• ensure people receiving aged care have the support they need.

How does the SIRS work?

The SIRS has 2 key components:

• incident management obligations
• reportable incident obligations.

Incident management obligations

The SIRS requires every residential aged care service to have in place an effective IMS – a set of protocols, processes, and standard operating procedures that staff are trained to use.

This means adopting a systematic approach to minimising the risk of, and response to, incidents that occur in a residential care setting.

An IMS is vital in supporting residential age care services to effectively manage risks and protect the safety of their residents, visitors and staff.

Reportable incident obligations

There are 8 types of reportable incidents involving aged care residents that must be reported to the Commission and the police if the incident is of a criminal nature.

What is a reportable incident?

Under the SIRS, there are 8 types of reportable incidents:

• Unreasonable use of force – for example, hitting, pushing, shoving, or rough handling a consumer
• Unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct – such as sexual threats against a consumer, stalking, or sexual activities without consumer consent
• Neglect of a consumer – for example, withholding personal care, untreated wounds, or insufficient assistance during meals
• Psychological or emotional abuse – such as yelling, name calling, ignoring a consumer, threatening gestures, or refusing a consumer access to care or services as a means of punishment
• Unexpected death – where reasonable steps were not taken by the provider to prevent the death, the death is the result of care or services provided by the provider or a failure by the provider to provide care and services
• Stealing or financial coercion by a staff member – for example, if a staff member coerces a consumer to change their will to their advantage, or steals valuables from the consumer
• Inappropriate use of restrictive practices – where it is used in relation to a consumer in circumstances such as:
  • where a restrictive practice is used without prior consent or without notifying the consumer’s representative as soon as practicable
  • where a restrictive practice is used in a non-emergency situation, or
  • when a provider issues a drug to a consumer to influence their behaviour as a form of restrictive practice
• Unexplained absence from care – where the consumer is absent from the service without explanation and there are reasonable grounds to report the absence to the police.

The Commission must be notified of all reportable incidents. This includes incidents that occur, or are alleged or suspected to have occurred, and includes incidents involving a care recipient with cognitive or mental impairment (such as dementia).

Incidents that are not one of the 8 reportable incident types listed above are not required to be reported to the Commission. However, depending on the circumstances, they may need to be reported to another government body.

Approved providers should always consider their local regulatory environment when determining whether an incident must be reported and to whom.

All incidents that occur in the provision of care, whether reportable or non-reportable, must be managed in line with a service’s IMS.

Reporting timeframes

If a reportable incident occurs or is alleged or suspected to have occurred, the provider must immediately act to protect the safety and wellbeing of those involved.

You must indicate whether the incident is either Priority 1 or Priority 2 based on:

• the incident type
• the harm and/or discomfort caused to the resident
• whether there are reasonable grounds to report the incident to the police.

The priority of the incident determines when it must be reported to the Commission.

Priority 1 reportable incidents

Priority 1 reportable incidents must be reported to the Commission within 24 hours of the provider becoming aware of the incident.

Priority 1 reportable incidents are incidents:

• that have caused or could reasonably have been expected to cause, a consumer physical or psychological harm and/or discomfort that would usually require medical or psychological treatment to resolve, or
• if there are reasonable grounds to contact the police, or
• of unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct, or
• when there is the unexpected death of a consumer or a consumer’s unexplained absence from the service.

Reporting to the police

You must report an incident to the police where there are reasonable grounds to do so. This includes scenarios where you are aware of facts or circumstances that lead to a belief that an incident is unlawful or considered to be of a criminal nature (for example sexual assault). These incidents must also be reported to police within 24 hours of becoming aware of the incident.

Reporting to police in relation to criminal conduct should occur regardless of whether the incident is alleged or suspected to have occurred. 

If you are in any doubt about whether an incident is of a criminal nature, make a report to the police. Police are the appropriate authorities to investigate and identify whether an incident may involve criminal conduct. 

Priority 2 reportable incidents

Priority 2 reportable incidents are those that do not meet the criteria for a Priority 1 reportable incident.

Providers must report Priority 2 reportable incidents to the Commission within 30 days of becoming aware of it occurring.

How do I report an incident?

Providers must report incidents using the SIRS tile on the My Aged Care Provider Portal.

Providers should make sure staff have training and access to the portal to submit reports on time.

For information on using the My Aged Care Provider Portal visit the Department of Health and Aged Care's My Aged Care – Service Provider Portal Resources

The role of the Commission under the SIRS

The Commission is responsible for administering the SIRS and receives and assesses reportable incident notices from residential aged care providers to determine the type of response required.

The Commission has the power to take regulatory action(s) if appropriate to address non-compliance with provider responsibilities.

We also have the power to issue compliance notices for suspected non-compliance with the SIRS obligations.

We regularly publish information on the operation of the SIRS.

How the SIRS relates to other aged care requirements

The SIRS sits alongside, and complements, other legislative requirements that aged care providers must meet.

All providers must comply with the Aged Care Quality Standards which clearly outline the standards of care a person can expect as an aged care consumer.

For example:

• Standard 8: Organisational governance requires approved providers to have in place effective risk management systems and practices that enable them (among other things) to manage high-impact risks associated with the care of consumers, and to identify and respond to abuse and neglect of consumers

• Standard 6: Feedback and complaints requires approved providers to demonstrate (among other things) that an open disclosure process is used when things go wrong in providing care for consumers

A provider is also legally required to help consumers understand their rights under the Charter of Aged Care Rights.

Taken together, these requirements reinforce the importance of aged care providers having an effective incident management system in place to better protect the safety, health, wellbeing and quality of life of care recipients.

SIRS resources

Visit our dedicated SIRS provider resources page.

Contact

If you have an enquiry about the SIRS, you can:

• call us for free on 1800 081 549 between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm (AEST) Monday to Friday, or between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm (AEST) Saturday and Sunday
• email us at sirs@agedcarequality.gov.au.