There are fresh concerns over the quality of food being served at aged care homes, with Senate Estimates hearing that in the last financial year, more than 1,500 providers spent less than $10 per person per day on food or did not answer ACQSC questions on the subject.
Between July and December 2021, 883 services were referred to the ACQSC for not meeting expenditure standards; of these, 381 were deemed “medium risk” of non-compliance, and 42 “high risk”. Additionally, a report obtained by News Corp Australia found that during that time, there were 37 examples of providers feeding residents on less than $6 per person per day.
At Senate Estimates, Coalition Senator Anne Ruston (above) asked Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson why significant chunks of the report had been redacted, and whether names of those found inadequate would be publicly released.
“At what point in time is Australia going to actually know? Are you going to report the names of those that have been deemed inadequate since the $10 supplement came into place?
“At what point is this encouragement, because they have to report to you, going to be sufficient for you to be satisfied that they’re taking action? There are still a lot of providers that are clearly not meeting their $10 a day standard,” she said.
Ms Anderson (pictured) said that the evidence showed aged care providers were improving their behaviour during the course of 2021.
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When you look at Quarter 1, Quarter 2, Quarter 3 and Quarter 4, 35 per cent in Quarter 1 were reporting expenditure below $10; 31 per cent were doing so in Quarter 2; 28 per cent were doing so in Quarter 3; and 22 per cent were doing so in Quarter 4.
“That is music to a regulator’s heart, because what we’re seeing is that providers are adjusting their behaviour, making considered choices and resetting priorities to ensure that they are increasing their expenditure, because they are required to report it,” she said.
In March this year, then-Aged Care Minister Senator Richard Colbeck deemed a food spend of less than $10 per resident per day “no longer satisfactory”.
A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care told The Weekly SOURCE that the Government is increasing transparency around food spending by mandating strengthened reporting requirements; referring services spending under $10 per resident per day to the ACQSC, and consulting on a dedicated food and nutrition standard for RAC.
“The Australian Government will also strengthen transparency on food in aged care by publishing on the Star Ratings service level results for quality indicators where food has an impact, including unplanned weight loss, consecutive unplanned weight loss, falls and major injury and pressure injuries, and consumer experience interview results for residents who were asked ‘do you like the food here’,” the spokesperson said.
