History - Role

Topics in this section:

Principles
Role in Aged Care

Our role in the Aged Care System

The introduction of the Government's Aged Care Structural Reform Package in 1996 (defined in the Aged Care Act 1997) resulted in the amalgamation of nursing homes and hostels into a unified residential aged care system.

The Government's quality assurance and accreditation framework seeks contributions from everybody associated with a service, including management, staff, residents and their representatives, not only to achieve a standard of quality, but to continually work to improve that standard.

Industry improvement mechanisms such as the Residential Aged Care Advocacy Services Program form an integral link with the Government's quality assurance platform and are intended to maintain a focus on consumer need.

The Residential Aged Care Advocacy Services Program has formed relationships with elements of the aged care program, including the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency and the Aged Care Complaints Resolution Scheme.

• Facility assessments and accreditation are overseen by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency (The Agency), which has responsibility for managing the new quality assurance system, with the Department of Health and Aged Care (DH&AC) retaining responsibility for regulatory activity.
• The Aged Care Complaints Resolution Scheme provides a free service through each State/Territory Office of the DH&AC. The Scheme is co-ordinated and reviewed by Aged Care Complaints Resolution Committees.

While the tools used by the advocacy agencies and the Aged Care Complaints Resolution Scheme are different, their roles are complementary. They both have a function in the resolution of consumer complaints and both aim to foster continuous improvement in the delivery of quality care.

The advocacy services have retained their independent function and role in partisan representation of older people, while adopting collaborative approaches to the improvement of aged care services.

While recent changes to aged care delivery within the industry have sought to encourage and promote a culture that recognises complaints as a positive component, the increasing frailness of older people makes the Residential Aged Care Advocacy Services Program even more crucial than at its inception.

The advocacy agencies also operate at the systemic level through the provision of education to consumers, key intermediaries such as Aged Care Assessment Teams and the aged care industry, as well as contributing to aged care policy.

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