Progress report released on Aged Care Royal Commission

The 2024 Progress Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has been published by the Acting Inspector-General of Aged Care.

The Inspector-General acknowledged that much has been done to improve the aged care system in the three years since the Royal Commission delivered its final report, and that more is underway or planned.

However, the report also found that many older Australians continue to experience challenges in understanding and accessing quality aged care. Urgent attention was therefore needed to fund a sufficient supply of Commonwealth Home Support services and Home Care Packages in response to unmet need and long waiting times.

The report calls for more whole-of-system reform planning, engagement and communication, in addition to initiative-specific activities. This includes building sector confidence by placing a higher priority on ensuring providers have sufficient time to plan for change and that reforms are appropriately sequenced. It also includes monitoring and reviewing instances where the design or implementation of one program impacts adversely on the goals of another, and where this is working to reduce access to or the provision of holistic quality care.

The Inspector-General outlined the need for government to consider whether individual elements of the reform agenda are working optimally together, with a view to increasing complementarity and resolving conflicts.

The key actions recommended by the report include:

• introducing a more seamless, demand-driven aged care system, which together with a rights-based legislative framework would deliver the transformation of the aged care system that was recommended by the Royal Commissioners
• improving people’s understanding of aged care to ensure they can readily access it when needed
• ensuring the system delivers high-quality, enablement-focused care to all
• ensuring sustainable provision of care that meets people’s preferences and diverse situations
• improving integration between the healthcare and aged care systems.
   

The report sets out the implementation status of all 148 recommendations as of 1 January 2024, as required by the Inspector-General of Aged Care Act. Where practicable, it also records actions and intentions beyond 1 January, including measures announced in the federal Budget on 14 May 2024.

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