If we that find that an aged care worker or responsible person isn’t complying with their obligations, we will act.
Our response
If we receive information that you may not be complying with your obligations under the Aged Care Act, we take the following steps.
- Assess the information
We assess the information we have.
We may ask for more information to fully understand:
- your behaviour or conduct
- if your provider had a role in the problem behaviour
- the level of risk to older people
- how best to respond.
- Consider the risk and the best way to respond
We always consider how serious the risks are to older people. That means we think about what could happen because of how you acted or didn’t act.
We think about the best way to make sure you can meet your obligations, and reduce and stop risks to older people.
If your provider is involved in the concerns we have about you, we also look at how to make sure they’re meeting their conditions of registration and obligations under the Aged Care Act. This includes making sure you comply with the Code.
- Respond to the concern
If we’re concerned about your behaviour, we may:
- work with your provider to make sure they help you understand and comply with your obligations
- provide education through a ‘reminder of obligations’ letter, reminding you of your obligations and asking you to change your behaviour
- send you a ‘caution letter’. This explains:
- our concerns with your behaviour
- your obligations
- how we’ll check you’re complying with your obligations
- what we’ll do if the problem behaviour continues or happens again
- ask you to do specific things, such as extra education or training
- investigate your behaviour. We’ll look at if you’re suitable to work in aged care
- take compliance or enforcement action. For example, issue a banning order which can stop or restrict you from working in aged care. A banning order can be permanent or temporary.
To work out which actions we should take for each case we balance:
- our compliance and enforcement principles
- the level of risk to older people
- other factors related to the non-compliance.
Depending on the case, penalties can apply. You can find more information in our Compliance and Enforcement Policy.
How we protect your information and your rights
Under the Aged Care Act we:
- treat all people working in aged care with respect
- protect your personal information.
Before we make any decisions that affect you, we’ll:
- help you understand the concern
- give you a chance to ask questions and give us any other information
- let you have your say and respond
- give you an opportunity to have a supporter or interpreter if you need one.
If you’re not happy with the process or the decision we make, you can:
- give us feedback
- make a complaint
- depending on the type of decision, ask us to reconsider the decision
- contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
You can give us feedback or complain:
- through our Feedback about the Commission webpage
- by calling us on 1800 951 822.
We’ll deal with your concerning feedback or complaint about us fairly and without bias. This follows the law and is in line with our Service Charter.
Read our Notice of Collection for more information about how we may collect, use and share your personal information.
You can also read our Procedural fairness and the Aged Care Code of Conduct fact sheet. It explains how we make sure we’re fair and what you can do if you think we’ve been unfair.
