Residential services

RB 2020-11 This Regulatory Bulletin details the information the Commission publishes about aged care service providers' performance in relation to their responsibilities under the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 (Commission Act) and the Aged Care Act 1997, or the Commonwealth funding agreement that relates to a service.

Note: This bulletin is an exposure draft and will be reviewed 10 August 2020.

The advice in this resource has been prepared by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s Chief Clinical Advisor Dr Melanie Wroth, to support residential aged care services in Victoria in preparing for and responding to a COVID-19 outbreak. The advice is informed by the Commission’s involvement in monitoring and supporting providers to identify and mitigate pandemic-related risks, including managing an outbreak in their service, and the lessons learned from these experiences.

You, your friends and family have a right to know how your residential aged care service is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have developed some common questions that you can ask your service provider during this time.

The Department of Health, in partnership with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission), is introducing a service compliance rating system for residential aged care services.

About the Service Compliance Rating

The rating system was developed in consultation with stakeholders, including senior Australians, their caregivers, aged care providers, and a range of peak bodies.

The Industry Code for Visiting Residential Aged Care Homes during COVID-19 (the Code) sets out the aged care industry’s expectations of conduct for aged care providers on how to support residents being able to have visitors while also keeping them safe and protected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To support the aged care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission is developing a range of new storyboards that are designed to illustrate key behaviours and priority issues.

A range of resources related to minimising the use of restraints in aged care. 

States and Territories have established directions giving effect to the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee’s recommendation that visitors and staff (including visiting workers) should not be permitted to enter a residential aged care facility, if they have not been vaccinated against influenza (after 1st May 2020).  

Residential aged care facilities may wish to display the attached poster at entrances, to alert anyone entering the facility of these flu vaccination requirements. 

These posters have been developed to supplement the CDNA National Guidelines for the Prevention, Control and Public Health Management of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Residential Care Facilities in Australia. 

The CDNA guidelines include a flow chart for managing COVID-19 in residential facilities. The posters take this flow chart and present it in a way that may be easier for facilities to see what they need to do for their particular circumstances. 

Six steps for safe prescribing antipsychotics and benzodiazepines in residential aged care.

If you’re thinking of prescribing these medicines to manage the behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia, follow these 6 steps.