With one in every three home care services failing to comply with all eight of the Aged Care Quality Standards in its latest report, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) is taking action.
While home care compliance has improved from the Q3 2022-23 low of 52% to 66% in Q2 2023-24, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission's 66-page Sector Performance Report Q2 2023-24 reveals that the regulator will increase the number of quality audits it conducts on home care services in 2023-24 and 2024-25 and increase education for the sector.
As in residential aged care, the lowest compliance rates were for Quality Standard 8 (Organisational governance), with only 75% of home care services compliant.
"Home services providers need to do more to make sure that they support their safe quality care with good governance," the report states.
Only 77% of home care services complied with Quality Standard 2 (Ongoing assessment and planning with consumers), a topic that also attracts high levels of complaints.
"Complaints about case management, coordination, and care planning are 3 of the top 10 complaints we received about home services this quarter," the report states.
The proportion of home home care providers that complied with Quality Standard 3 (Personal care and clinical care) also declined.
"Home service providers need to take action in this area," the report states.
"We are closely watching this trend."
Elsewhere in the report, Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) data showed that for home care services, neglect was the most reported incident type in the last four quarters.
There was also a "concerning" 13% increase in incidents of stealing or financial coercion from 147 notification in Q1 to 166 incidents in Q2. The ACQSC said it expects providers to have systems in place to detect, respond to, and prevent such incidents.
The data comes as the sector prepares for the new strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards to come into effect after their planned 1 July 2024 commencement date was deferred along with the new Aged Care Act.
You can read the report here.
