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Compliance squeeze on aged care

Posted on October 14, 2009, 7:07pm

It will cost Boandik Lodge $14,000 this year to renew police checks for all staff.

But Boandik Lodge chairman Eric Roughana said despite the high cost, the facility was committed to ensuring the safety of all residents and clients.

In the facility’s 2008-09 annual report, Mr Roughana reported on the many challenges the aged care industry faces with the lack of indexation of funding, the inability to raise capital and increased legislative compliance.

“The legislative compliance required in aged care continues to increase each year,” Mr Roughana wrote.

“The Minister of Ageing has reacted to negative media reporting of aged care by introducing new legislation that imposes additional requirements on all aged care providers.”

One of the additional requirements was that all staff, volunteers and contractors who work unsupervised on the premises require police checks.

It is an additional administrative burden that is not funded by the Department of Ageing.

“In 2009 we must renew police checks for all staff, which will cost approximately $14,000,” according to Mr Roughana.

Other additional regulations introduced by the State Government that are both costly and time consuming to comply with, were also highlighted in the chairman’s report.

They include legionella regulations which required Boandik Lodge to install new equipment to allow effective treatment of all warm water systems, and the introduction of the standards on food delivery to vulnerable people, which placed another burden on the facility.

“We had a very mature food safety program that had been checked numerous times by the council inspector,” Mr Roughana wrote in his report.

“However, the new standards are very prescriptive and significant changes to documentation were required.

“We are also now required to pay for an audit of our food safety program on an annual basis; once again an unfunded additional cost.”

Mr Roughana described the challenges as more frustrating than any time in the past.

“The government calls for optimum aged care services, with which we agree, but by its actions, seemingly ignores the excessive burden it imposed on management and operational staff.”

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