Serious Incident Response Scheme

This page details the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) for aged care providers.

For information on SIRS for aged care consumers please visit the SIRS consumers page

New SIRS decision support tool

On 1 October 2021, we launched the SIRS decision support tool to make it easier and faster for you to 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

What is the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)?

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) is an initiative to help prevent and reduce incidents of abuse and neglect in residential aged care services subsidised by the Australian Government.

The SIRS sets out arrangements for approved providers of residential aged care and flexible care 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.

Approved 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, 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 impact to the consumer. Please refer to the ‘How does the SIRS work?’ section below for more details.

My Aged Care Provider Portal

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

For information on using the My Aged Care Provider Portal visit the Department of Health'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 aims 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 from 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 incident management system – 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 incident management system is vital in supporting residential age care services to effectively manage risks and protect the safety of their consumers, visitors and staff.

Reportable incident obligations

There are 8 types of reportable incidents involving aged care consumers 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 incident management system.

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.

The approved provider must classify the incident as either Priority 1 or Priority 2 based on:

• the incident type
• the impact on the consumer
• 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 reportable incidents:

• that have caused or could reasonably have been expected to cause, a consumer physical or psychological injury or discomfort that requires medical or psychological treatment to resolve, or
• if there are reasonable grounds to contact the police, or
• when there is the unexpected death of a consumer or a consumer’s unexplained absence from the service.

Reporting to the police

All reportable incidents involving instances of unexplained absence from care, unexpected death of a consumer, or where there are reasonable grounds to report the incident to the police, must be classified as Priority 1 reportable incidents.

For example, an incident involving unlawful sexual contact is always a Priority 1 incident which must be reported to the Commission within 24 hours of the incident, or the provider becoming aware of the incident, and should be reported to the police.

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's My Aged Care – Service Provider Portal Resources

When did the SIRS commence?

The SIRS was introduced in two stages.

Stage 1

The first stage came into effect on 1 April 2021 and requires residential aged care providers to have an effective incident management system in place and to report all Priority 1 reportable incidents to the Commission within 24 hours of becoming aware of them occurring.

Stage 2

The second stage began on 1 October 2021 and requires residential aged care providers to report all Priority 2 reportable incidents to the Commission within 30 days of becoming aware of them occurring, as well as Priority 1 reportable incidents.

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.

It also has new powers to issue compliance notices for suspected non-compliance with the SIRS obligations.

The Commission will continue to publish information regularly on the operation of the SIRS, and these updates will be expanded over time.

Guidance material for aged care providers

Serious Incident Response Scheme: Guidelines for residential aged care providers

Guidelines for residential aged care providers describes the responsibilities of providers in relation to the SIRS. It includes information on:

• the requirements relating to incident management, response, and prevention
• the types of reportable incidents that must be notified to the Commission
• the requirements for making a notification, including what must be notified and when
• the role of the Commission in managing reports and ensuring providers are notifying and responding to reportable incidents.

Effective incident management systems: Best practice guidance

This guidance provides information for providers to help them to develop and embed a best practice incident management system which enables them to respond to and manage specific incidents and near misses by assessing:

• what happened
• how and why it happened
• what can be done to reduce the risk of recurrence and support safer care
• what was learned
• how the learning can be shared.

Insight reports

This is a series of reports drawing on information from serious incident notifications of the SIRS.

We always encourage providers to examine their own reporting patterns and arrangements in comparison with sector averages.

Provider roundtable summary

We hosted a virtual provider roundtable on 9 June 2021.

The SIRS provider roundtable outcomes summary documents the key issues, ideas and comments that emerged from this event.

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, well-being and quality of life of its consumers.

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 am and 5 pm (AEST) Monday to Friday or 8 am to 6 pm (AEST) Saturday to Sunday
• email us at sirs@agedcarequality.gov.au