Resources

Health and social care standards have been widely adopted as a quality improvement intervention. Standards are typically made up of evidence-based statements that describe high-quality care as an outcome or process of care delivery. They involve stakeholders at multiple levels and multiple activities across diverse services. It’s not difficult to see why many problems challenge effective implementation. Getting people on board is hard. Staff see standards as ‘extra work’. Quality managers and clinicians may be at odds, both with different agendas. Line managers may see accreditation as the quality manager’s job, rather than as part of their responsibility for meeting standards of care. Everyone may be doing their best, but there are many barriers to success.

There are many documented benefits of accreditation. These include driving the establishment of organisational structures and processes, promotion of a quality and safety culture, and improvement in care.  Organisational benefits in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and integration of health services, innovation, support for evidence-based decision-making, and increased stakeholder engagement, have also been discussed in the literature. 

This aged care reform roadmap provides an indicative timeline for key reform elements.

Providers must have a written plan for continuous improvement that explains how the provider will meet its obligations in relation to the service and the standards.

Clinical Excellence Queensland have developed these audit tools to support health services in achieving and surpassing the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards.

Objective evidence is the proof that the organization did or did not meet its requirements. One of the primary objectives of an audit is to collect objective evidence.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has collected a selection of self-assessment tools.

Human Services Standards self-assessment tool for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers and file audit tool.

Evidence and experience show that using evidence-based guidance and improving practice is easier and more likely to happen when the environment for change is right.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety called for reforms in the aged care sector to improve standards of care for older people. In response, the  Australian Government has started the reform process.

What do these changes mean for you and your aged care services right now?