Why Compliance in Aged Care is So Important

Across Australia, every aged care provider is required to meet government regulations and standards that protect and maintain the safety, health, wellbeing and quality of life for those who use the service. 

‘Compliance’ is the word used to describe the process of ensuring organisations meet these requirements and taking actions when they do not. 

Leading NSW residential aged care provider SummitCare takes compliance very, very seriously.

“Not only does compliance give us a set of official targets and guidelines, it is important that we also uphold their intent to do the very best for those in our care,” says Dilpreet Kaur SummitCare’s Corporate General Manager – Governance, Compliance & Quality.

Eight standards are in place that Australian residential aged care homes are regularly assessed by. They are:

1. Consumer dignity and choice – where residents are treated with dignity and respect, can maintain their identity and make informed choices about their care and services.
2. Ongoing assessment and planning – residents are treated as a partner in their ongoing assessment and planning that helps them get the care and services they need. 
3. Personal care and clinical care – residents get personal care, clinical care, or both that is safe and right for them.
4. Services and supports for daily living – residents get the services and support for daily living that are important for their health and wellbeing, and that enable them to do the things they want to do.
5. Organisation’s service environment – residents feel that they belong and are safe and comfortable in the organisation’s service environment.
6. Feedback and complaints – residents feel safe and are encouraged and supported to give feedback and make complaints, and appropriate action is taken.
7. Human resources – residents get quality care and services when they need them from people who are knowledgeable, capable and caring.

Compliance can be checked through a mix of quality assessments, reviews and consumer feedback.

“While we place a lot of emphasis on meeting our compliance requirements, we work hard to go above and beyond what is expected of us, in recent years we have more than doubled our Compliance team to ensure every aspect of our resident care and needs are met to their fullest expectations,” says Dilpreet.

“As examples, SummitCare’s compliance and preparedness for COVID-19 Plan includes a comprehensive Corporate Pandemic COVID plan which includes amongst many other items a COVID-19 Toolkit that outlines our teams’ involvement in Weekly COVID-19  Local Health District meetings held with key contacts from the Public Health units, clinical stream managers, aged care providers, and clinicians.

Business Continuity/Scenario Planning, upgraded Infection Control policies, a staff workplace back-up plan, attention to continuous improvement processes, a dedicated tab on the website and our COVID-specific communications include regular family and resident updates.”

SummitCare also employs trained infection control coordinators, and have a COVID ‘readiness box’ that can be used at each site in case of a positive case. The Corporate team have been actively involved with COO, Michelle Sloane in the development of a Media/Communications plan in case of an outbreak to ensure all residents and their families are aware of the situation and are kept regularly informed and able to communicate with us and their loved ones.  

Demonstrating success, the SummitCare aged care facility in Wallsend, Newcastle has just been listed as one of the Top 3 nursing homes in that city by the Three Best Rated group. Their 50-point inspection process reviews reputation, complaints, ratings, trust, cost and general excellence.

“This acknowledgement is evidence that all ten SummitCare aged care homes work hard to achieve the highest levels of compliance and approval,” says Dilpreet.

“It shows that we go above and beyond to deliver genuine care and quality service for all of our residents.”

Find out more about SummitCare.