Sam Rae has made public a letter he has written to aged care providers, reminding them of their legislated requirement to ensure staff receive training in preparation for the new Aged Care Act.
"I would like to remind aged care providers of their obligations to deliver training to their staff, including to support the transition to the Act and associated reforms," the Minister wrote.
Training is a requirement of the current Aged Care Quality Standards, as well as the Aged Care Rules and strengthened Quality Standards which come into effect from 1 November.
"I expect providers to identify and provide relevant training for their service and the needs of their workers."
Providers are also expected to "roster dedicated paid time for workers (both employees and subcontractors) to complete training" as a requirement of the Fair Work Act, he said.
Providers blamed for delays
The Minister's letter also states implementation of the new Aged Care Act was delayed four months because "providers, workers and older Australians needed more time to prepare".
It has been widely reported the Government's own IT systems were not ready for the 1 July rollout.
Earlier in the week he said providers are ready to deliver 20,000 Home Care Packages by 1 November, backtracking on earlier claims the packages were being withheld because providers lacked enough staff.
Read the Aged Care Minister's letter in full here.
