Fed: Every aged care facility visited in accreditation process

AAP General News (Australia)
12-30-2000
Fed: Every aged care facility visited in accreditation process

CANBERRA, Dec 30 AAP - Every aged care facility in Australia had been visited under
the federal government's new accreditation process, Aged Care Minister Bronwyn Bishop
said today.

As of Monday January 1, 2001 all aged care facilities need to be accredited by the
Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency to continue receiving government funding.

Mrs Bishop said the results of the first round of accreditation audits for Australia's
nursing homes would be announced on New Year's Day.

She said the new system had been fundamental in raising the standard of care for the
135,000 residents currently in aged care facilities.

"The accreditation process has meant for the first time, every aged care facility in
the country has been visited," Mrs Bishop said.

"In addition to the 3,000 accreditation audits conducted by the Agency, over 2,000
further visits have been made to facilities.

"Some 600 spot checks - both random and targeted - have also been made to monitor standards."

The Aged Care Department also conducted 6,260 resident classification visits resulting
in the inspection of 36,5000 care plans since the introduction of the Aged Care Act 1997.

"Throughout the initial inspection period, many facilities have been alerted to areas
that require improvement and have already acted to rectify the problems or are in the
process of doing so," Mrs Bishop said said.

Since March 1999 - government has allocated 22,000 aged care places.

AAP eg/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: AGED

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