Facilities have just over two weeks to meet new requirements which were one of the recommendations in the Royal Commission’s special COVID report.
Department of Health Secretary, Dr Brendan Murphy (pictured above), has penned a letter to approved providers advising them that a suitable EN or RN dedicated to that facility must be selected for the role and their details reported to the Department by 4 December.
“At larger facilities, or to address certain deficiencies, providers may determine that a full-time IPC lead or a number of IPC leads is appropriate,” he wrote.
All nominated IPC leads must be enrolled in or have commenced a suitable IPC training course if they do not have suitable existing qualifications by 31 December – six weeks away.
Dr Murphy identified the 80-hour Foundations of Infection Prevention and Control course offered by the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) as the preferred option.
This training must be completed before 28 February 2021 – three-and-a-half months away.
Providers are advised to use the funding from the Government’s second COVID-19 supplement – announced on 31 August – to fund the IPC lead and their training.
Expenditure on the role will also need to be reported through providers’ annual Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR).
The Royal Commission had recommended that having a trained infection control officer should be part of providers’ accreditation – and this appears to be on the cards.
“The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is currently considering how it will have regard to providers' response to this new requirement in its quality assessment and monitoring activities, and will provide separate advice to providers about this,” Dr Murphy says.
Stay tuned then.
