Page 1/3 Consumer Report to cover

‘All Aged Care homes’

Page 2 Message from the CEO

Page 2 Education programs

Page 4 About the winners: Better

Practice Awards

Page 4 Update on Cost Recovery

Page 5 Better Practice Conference -

Perth

Page 5 Choking on food or small

objects

Page 7 New aged care data site

‘Invaluable Resource’

Page 8 ‘Complaints Matter’ - Aged Care

Complaints Commissioner

Page 9 In Brief: news, updates, courses,

events, guides and programs

In this issue

SEPTEMBER 2017

Consumer Report launch with Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (AACQA) Senior Quality Surveyor Mary Winkels, AACQA Executive Director Operations Ann Wunsch, Head of the Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing at La Trobe University Professor Yvonne Wells, AACQA CEO Nick Ryan, AACQA Executive Director Programs and Education Christina Bolger

CONSUMER REPORTS TO COVER ‘ALL AGED CARE HOMES’

Continued on page 3

2from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency’s new Consumer Experience Reports are now being published on our website for each residential aged care home service receiving a reaccreditation audit.

I was pleased to join the Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt at the formal launch of these reports at last month’s Better Practice Conference in Sydney. The reports will help ensure the views of consumers, particularly those living with dementia, are recognised and heard.

Also at last month’s Better Practice Conference, we presented our Better Practice Awards showcasing innovation and excellence in aged care. You can now access full details and images of each award-winning program – acting as exemplars to other aged care services - via this issue of the Quality Standard.

Don’t miss our last Better Practice conferences for 2017: the Brisbane Better Practice Conference in September and Perth Better Practice in October! There is a great line-up of speakers, workshops and discussions centred around this year’s theme ‘Re-thinking Aged Care: Discover, Connect, Create’.

One of the topics we have been encouraging providers to learn more about is ‘serious risk’. This is where a failure to meet the applicable standards has placed, or may place the safety, health or wellbeing of a care recipient at ‘serious risk’.

One area sometimes receiving attention under ‘serious risk’ in aged care is the important issue of choking. This issue of Quality Standard, we include important advice on choking prevention.

We also remind providers of ‘best practice’ guidelines for the prevention and management of influenza outbreaks in residential aged care. Despite the approach of warmer weather, influenza remains a threat, and we encourage providers to regularly review influenza policies and outbreak plans.

To mark Dementia Awareness Month we include a range of relevant events, courses and resources. See this issue of the Quality Standard.

Nick RyanChief Executive Office

Quality Standard | ISSN 2204-437X (online)

Visit our website to add your email to our mailing list – www.aacqa.gov.au

Send us an email if you have a story – editor@aacqa.gov.au

EDUCATION PROGRAMS WORKSHOPS – Our one day workshopManaging Accreditation Performance (Residential Aged

Care)

This workshop is targeted at residential aged care quality leaders and aims to build on your existing knowledge and skills of the Accreditation Standards, Quality Agency and continuous improvement processes to achieve consistency and improved accreditation performance within your organisation. The program is designed to build skills to critically assess service delivery, manage systems and risk, undertake continuous improvement, use quality tools, analyse data effectively.

COURSES – Our two day industry courses Understanding accreditation (Residential Aged Care) &

Understanding quality review (Home Care)

Aims to provide participants in aged care with an introduction to the aged care regulatory framework, relevant aged care standards, quality assessment process principles and methodology. The courses are targeted at those with responsibility for quality and management such as Care / unit / facility managers, Registered nurses, Quality/ Regional managers and coordinators, Services Managers and team leaders and educators and trainers.

Visit our website www.aacqa.gov.au or phone 1800 728 589 to register.

3from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency’s new Consumer Experience Reports were launched by the Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt AM at our Better Practice Conference in Sydney in August.

The new reports, to be published on our website alongside accreditation audit reports, will allow older Australians and their families to read what aged care residents say about their experience of care and services in residential aged care homes.

Speaking at the official launch, Minister Wyatt said the new reports are “aimed at informing choices, by providing consumers with clear and accessible information”.

The consumer experience report is being rolled out to cover all government-approved aged care homes across Australia, as each receives its re-accreditation audit.

Minister Wyatt said the reports are “a further example of the innovative approach being driven by the Quality Agency, with surveyors recently adopting a computer-assisted audit tool to better capture audit information on the performance of homes against the expected standards and enable report writing.”

Quality Agency CEO Nick Ryan described the reports’ significance:

“Each year our assessors speak to almost 55,000 residents and their families about their experience living in aged care. We wanted to find a better way of capturing this information and presenting it in a way that is useful and meaningful for people looking at moving into aged care.

“Our partnership with the Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing at La Trobe University has provided us with tested questions and a sound basis to support interviewing care recipients in aged care services.

“The consumer experience report marks a turning point in the way we report on an aged care home’s performance. Along with the audit report, we have designed an interview that captures a snapshot of the consumer’s experience in an individual aged care home.

Each report represents the answers to 10 key questions asked during resident and family interviews. Questions cover food, safety, emotional and physical care, support for independent living, follow-up by staff, communication and respectful care.

Mr Ryan acknowledged the Reference Group involved in the development of the Consumer Experience Report.

We will be reviewing our progress to date in October 2017, including strategies to maximise the inclusion of people with dementia.

A sample of the report and more information is available on the Quality Agency’s website at www.aacqa.gov.au/consumer-reports.

Image: Excerpt from Consumer Report sample showing one of the questions with responses

CONSUMER REPORTS TO COVER ‘ALL AGED CARE HOMES’

4from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

Be inspired by our Better Practice Awards 2017 by linking to a full description and images of each winning program on our website: 2017 Better Practice Award winners

Our Better Practice Awards are presented each year for projects, initiatives or programs that act as exemplars for other aged care service providers to assist and to encourage improvement to care and services. The Better Practice Awards recognise and disseminate better practice and innovation across the broad spectrum of aged care services. The 2017 Better Practice Award winners were recently announced at our Better Practice Conference in Sydney in August.

Many of the programs have aspects that could be adopted by other aged care providers. Winning programs cover

initiatives across descriptors including leadership and culture, workforce development, health and wellbeing, dementia care, technology, diversity and more, and include both residential and home care.

Our Awards program consists of two tiers: National Better Practice Commendation Awards (exemplars), focusing on quality and safety for consumers; and the National Innovation and Excellence in Aged Care Awards recognising a small number of providers, nationally, demonstrating leading edge, innovative practices in aged care that represent ‘excellence’.

Link here for full details of our 2017 Better Practice Award winners.

ABOUT THE WINNERS: BETTER PRACTICE AWARDS

Pictured: One of the winners in our Commendation Awards category, the Memories Through Music program - Vasey Brighton East (VIC)

Feedback from the sector in response to the recent public consultation on the Quality Agency Draft Cost Recovery Implementation Statement 2018-19 (Draft CRIS) is now available on the cost recovery information web page at www.aacqa.gov.au/cost-recovery

The Quality Agency acknowledges the feedback from our stakeholders and thanks all those who contributed to the consultation process.

If you would like more information about the proposed changes to cost recovery please refer to the cost recovery information web page or email qualityagencypolicy@aacqa.gov.au

UPDATE ON COST RECOVERY

5from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

If you haven’t registered for the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency’s Better Practice Conference yet - please join us at our last Better Practice Conference for 2017, in Perth 12-13 October. The Perth conference is to be opened by the Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt.

Our theme is Rethinking Aged Care: Discover, Connect, Create. In exploring this theme we want to go beyond discussing quality within the current aged care provision paradigm to explore opportunities and challenge ourselves to consider what is needed to deliver on expectations about the quality of care and services in aged care. This year’s conference features new practical workshops.

Date & Venue:

Perth 12-13 October 2017 Pan Pacific Perth Register Online

Plenary sessions include:

Dr Allen Power. An aged care thought leader and geriatrician, Dr Power will suggest an alternate view of dementia focusing on the person’s experience and a transformative approach to care and support.

Kate Swaffer. Chair, CEO and Co-founder of Dementia Alliance International Kate is a passionate advocate of human rights and those living with dementia.

Kate Fulton At our Perth conference only

Consultant – WAIS Western Australia Individualised Services, AVIVO: Live Life and Centre for Welfare Reform, UK (WA)

BETTER PRACTICE CONFERENCE - PERTH

This important advice comes from Disability SA Bulletin

104 provided by Disability SA, the South Australian

Department for Communities and Social Inclusion.

The Quality Agency is reprinting the article as the advice

is also useful for older people and those with dementia.

Choking on food or a small object can occur at any age. Children and adults with disability might be at higher risk of choking.

Choking occurs when the airway is partly or completely blocked by a piece of food or a foreign body (for example, a small object).

Common causes of choking

• Eating or drinking too quickly.• Swallowing food before it has been sufficiently

chewed.

• Swallowing small bones or objects.• Inhaling small objects.

Generally, any object smaller than a table tennis ball can be a choking hazard.

Choking hazards include:

• Food items like lollies, raw apples, pieces of meat (including chicken and fish), nuts, raw carrots, uncooked peas, seeds (including popcorn kernels), grapes, fruit pips and stones, hot dogs and sausages

• Household items like latex gloves, coins, small batteries, the tops off pens and markers, bottle caps, plastic tabs from protective coverings on containers, paper clips, safety pins, beads and other jewellery

• Toys and toy parts like plastic shapes, marbles, the eyes of stuffed toys and balloons (either uninflated or broken pieces)

• Garden objects like pebbles and bark.

CHOKING ON FOOD OR SMALL OBJECTS

6from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

Choking on non-food objects

Young children and some adults with disability may place small objects into their mouth as a means of exploring the world around them. Any small object that a child or adult with disability has access to can be a potential choking risk.

How to prevent choking on non-food objects

• Identify specific habits or behaviours that may place a child or adult with disability at risk of injury (for example, oral exploration).

• Identify hazards (as listed above) in the environment around the child or adult with disability that may place them at risk of injury.

• Ensure small objects that could be inhaled (get into someone’s windpipe) or swallowed are kept out of reach, securely stored and safely disposed of.

• Use items/toys that are solid and sturdy, avoiding items/toys with small parts, breakable parts or brittle surfaces. Check items/toys for things like exposed stuffing, loose screws and buttons.

• Ensure people who may be at risk of choking are

appropriately supervised and that information about their care needs are documented and shared with those supporting them.

Choking on food items

Children and adults with disability may need support from others to access food and drinks, or alternative methods of nourishment such as enteral (non-oral) nutrition. They may also have swallowing issues that can affect safety at mealtimes or may need to rely on support staff to assist them to eat and drink.

The risk of choking or aspiration (food or drink going into the airway) may be increased if incorrect food or fluid consistencies are provided or if inappropriate support strategies are used.

How to prevent choking on food items

• Ensure recommendations made by health care professionals regarding mealtime management requirements of a child or adult with disability are clearly documented, available and followed by those supporting them.

• If the person has a modified diet or fluid consistency, ensure the specific food inclusions and exclusions for that texture (such as, soft/cut up, modified soft, minced moist, smooth puree) are adhered to.

• Ensure the person has the appropriate supervision when eating and drinking, as documented in their mealtime safety recommendations.

Some high choking risk foods include:

• Foods that can break off into small hard pieces such as corn chips

• Hard fruit and vegetables like carrots and apples• Whole grapes• Sausages, frankfurts and other meats with coarse

outer skins• Stringy meats such as chicken and steak• Popcorn, nuts, hard lollies or other similar foods.

Choking is a medical emergency

• Check if the person is still able to breathe or cough.• If the person is able to cough, encourage coughing

and send for help.• If the person is unable to cough, call 000 immediately

and follow the instructions of the ambulance service operator.

ResourcesChoking - HealthDirectChoking on food and other objects - Child and Youth HealthPrevention of choking, suffocation and strangulation in young children - Kidsafe SA Inc [PDF 394 KB]Choking - emedicinehealthChoking Flowchart (Management of Foreign Body Airway Obstruction) - Australian Resuscitation Council

With thanks again to Disability SA and the South

Australian Department for Communities and Social

Inclusion for allowing us to reprint this article from the

Disability SA Bulletin 104.

CHOKING ON FOOD OR SMALL OBJECTS CONT...

7from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

GEN, a new website managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, is providing unprecedented access to Australia’s aged care information and data breakdowns.

Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt said the GEN website was a one–stop shop that would benefit older people, their families, researchers and everyone needing details on aged care. “The GEN website uses easy to understand language and illustrations to report on capacity and activity in the aged care system, including people’s care needs, assessments and the services they use,” he said.

“It is designed to cater for all levels of users, from aged care residents to academics and service providers seeking high quality data and analysis.

“Each section of the website provides an overview with clear infographics and factsheets on a wide variety of topics. GEN provides more detail than ever before, with options to search data nationally, by State or through one of our 73 Aged Care Planning Regions,” he said.

“Not only can users customise data to their own requirements, if they can’t find what they need, there’s a tab to easily lodge requests for extra detail.”

The website accesses databases from the National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse, managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

For more information please visit the GEN website at www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au

NEW AGED CARE DATA SITE ‘INVALUABLE RESOURCE’

Useful stats from the GEN website’s infographics and fact sheets • The number of people in aged care has increased by 31% over the last decade.

• 2 in 3 people in aged care are women. (Source: ‘People using aged care’ infographics sheet)

• Almost one-quarter of a million people use Australia’s government-funded aged care services on a typical day. This number has increased over the last decade.

• 1 in 3 people in home care eventually move into residential aged care (Source: ‘People using aged care’ factsheet and infographics sheets – GEN data website)

• The average age of people entering into residential aged care is 84 years old. (Source: ‘Admissions into aged care’ infographics sheet – GEN data website)

8from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

Earlier this year, the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner

held a special Complaints Matter conference, with

speeches from Maggie Beer, Professor Ron Paterson and

others now accessible via video links from their website.

This article was provided by the Aged Care Complaints

Commissioner.

The Aged Care Complaints Commissioner held their first public event in April this year at the Adelaide Convention Centre. ‘Complaints Matter’ saw nearly 100 aged care consumers and service providers come together to take part in discussions and workshops about the importance of complaints in the aged care sector.

A number of Australian and international speakers representing different industries took to the stage to present their perspective on the importance of complaints and share their experience with the audience.

Former New Zealand Health and Disability Commissioner Professor Ron Paterson delivered a powerful presentation, reminding audience members that when it comes to complaints ‘we are not difficult, we are human’. Professor Paterson was recently appointed by the Australian Government as one of the independent reviewers of national aged care quality regulatory processes.

Other speakers included culinary icon Maggie Beer who talked about ensuring the nutritional welfare of aged care residents and the importance of ‘creating an appetite for life’. Adam Jarvis from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Jane Cole from the Compliance and Regulatory Affairs branch of Medibank talked about the world of complaints outside of aged care stating that ‘if we care about consumers, we should care about complaints’.

Complaints Commissioner Rae Lamb hosted a panel discussion on why complaints matter and how we can learn to think about them differently. A short film featuring Ms Lamb interviewing a complainant about her experiences was played to the audience to spark discussion. Audience members were also given the opportunity to ask the panel questions during a dedicated Q&A session.

The event was wrapped up with a complaints workshop entitled ‘changing perspectives’. Audience members were split into groups and were given the task of resolving an example complaint. Actors representing different parties of the complaint delivered their perspectives to the groups who then worked through the complexities to resolve the issues for the person receiving care.

Feedback from the event showed that it was well received with one attendee commenting that the workshop was ‘a great way to interact, test thinking and consider the perspectives of each party - an excellent session’. The Complaints Commissioner is hoping to hold another event in a different location next year.

To listen to any of the speakers’ presentations or the panel discussion, see the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner website at https://www.agedcarecomplaints.gov.au/complaints-matter-2017-videos/

‘COMPLAINTS MATTER’ - AGED CARE COMPLAINTS COMMISSIONER

9from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

Government funding allocation for dementia The Government recently announced a funding allocation for various medical research projects which will improve the lives of Australians fighting dementia. These projects include:

• A project led by Dr Jamie Bryant at the University of Newcastle will look at improving timely diagnosis and provision of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with dementia.

• Investigating ways in which dementia and diabetes are linked as well as considering prevention of both will be a key part of Dr Ryusuke Takech’s project based at Curtin University.

• Finding ways to improve sleep as a way of reducing dementia will be a project led by Dr Craig Phillips from the University of Sydney.

These projects will be administered by the Commonwealth’s peak research body, the National Health and Medical Research Council. A full list of grant recipients is available on the NHMRC website.

IN BRIEF...A quick rundown of new announcements and resources from aged care government, health,

community and other providers.

In this issue: Dementia Awareness Month | Dementia resources, courses, events | Active Ageing

Week | Carers Week

Dementia Awareness month in SeptemberIn September we encourage everyone to join the international campaign to raise awareness and challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia. In Australia, Alzheimer’s Australia is promoting ‘Dementia Awareness Month’ with the theme You are not alone. See their website at www.fightdementia.org.au/dementia-awareness-month

There are more than 413,106 Australians living with dementia (184,868 (45%) males and 228,238 (55%) females). By 2025, the number of people with dementia is expected to increase to 536,164. (cited on Alzheimer’s Australia NSW website).

Understanding Dementia - free university course

The University of Tasmania’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Understanding Dementia, is an easily accessible 9-week online course that builds upon the latest in international research on dementia. It’s free and anyone can enrol. You also may be interested in the 5-week Preventing Dementia course.

To express your interest in these 2018 courses, please visit their Wicking Dementia Research & Education Centre web site at www.utas.edu.au/wicking

The Lancet - Dementia Commission The family of medical journals, The Lancet, now has a Dementia Commission focusing on early intervention and prevention strategies for dementia. See The Lancet for details.

10from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency

New resource on harmful substance use and the brain Alzheimer’s Australia have released a new consumer resource to increase awareness about the impact of harmful substance use on the brain: the booklet Think aHEAD - Harmful Substance Use and the Brain.

It urges readers to ‘think ahead’ about the future of their brain health and to recognise that current actions can have consequences in the future.

Download the booklet from fightdementia.org.au

Active Ageing Week, 24-30 SeptemberActive Ageing Week is a worldwide event you can read more about on the Active Ageing Australia website based in South Australia. Also see the informative National Ageing Research Institute website which has a physical activity e-learning program, a healthy ageing quiz for consumers, and other great resources promoting healthy ageing. Carers Week website.

National Carers Week 15-21 OctoberNational Carers Week celebrates the outstanding contribution of carers to our communities, and recognises the diversity of carers and their caring roles. See your local carer website and events and resources listed on the National Carers Week Website.

Legislated Review of Aged Care 2017 – final report now availableOn 14 September 2017, the Hon Ken Wyatt AO MP tabled the report of the Legislated Review of Aged Care 2017 (the Review). The Review, led by Mr David Tune AO PSM, examines the impact and effectiveness of the changes implemented under the Living Longer Living Better reform package announced in 2012. It makes 38 recommendations for future reform to the aged care system.

View the media release on the Minister’s website and the report on the department’s website.