Aged care regulator forced to cut back on-site visits as COVID-19 bites

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) has dialled back its compliance checks as the sector battles Omicron outbreaks in more than 1,100 aged care homes. Data shows that the watchdog conducted 128 site visits and 87 external activities such as phone compliance checks across Australia’s 2,700 aged care homes in January – just one-third of the checks that it did 12 months previously.

In a statement posted last week on the ACQSC’s website, Commissioner Janet Anderson PSM said the Commission was “constantly reassessing its regulatory response to ensure it remains fit for purpose”. “At times the Commission will be unable to gain access to an aged care service experiencing an outbreak due to public health requirements. “Where this occurs, we continue to engage with that service using our regulatory powers, including through participation in outbreak management coordination with Commonwealth and the relevant state/territory government health agencies and the affected service,” she said. Ms Anderson added that the Commission would still undertake “infection prevention and control monitoring spot checks at individual aged care services where there is an increased risk of a COVID-19 outbreak” and continue to “conduct site visits to residential services to support and ensure provider outbreak readiness”.

It’s not the first time the regulator has been forced to cut back: on-site visits were also reduced early on in the pandemic and during Victoria’s second wave. But the reduction may put further pressure on assessors as cases begin to decline – as we reported last week, two-thirds of aged care homes are due for reaccreditation in 2022.