The ACQSC has recently increased the number of unannounced visits made to residential aged care facilities both on weekends and after-hours.
According to the Commission’s May newsletter, the increase in visits will build on the ACQSC’s existing after-hours and weekend monitoring schedule, which was put in place as a result of “escalated concerns, referrals or identified risks” in aged care facilities.
ACQSC Commissioner, Janet Anderson, had flagged the increase during the first round of Royal Commission hearings, saying the policy of out-of-hours visits would be extended over the months of February and March.
As we covered here, the former Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (AACQA) came under fire earlier this year after The Australian revealed the agency had made no unannounced visits outside business hours in 2017-18, while only 10 began on a weekend or public holiday.
