Last week the commission hosted a Webinar from the Commission on “what providers need to know about the changes to legislation”.
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson presented alongside Chief Clinical Advisor Dr. Melanie Wroth on their take of the changes and responsibilities on the providers to offer support and increased training accordingly to all their care staff.
These measures are contained in legislative amendments to the Aged Care Act 1997 and Quality of Care Principles 2014, which clarify the limited circumstances in which restrictive practices can be used in relation to a consumer, including for use in an emergency.
So, what are the changes in a nutshell:
- introduce the term ‘restrictive practices’ to describe all forms of ‘restraint’
- make changes to the types and definitions of restrictive practices that may be used or applied and align these with those with the provider’s policies.
- Restrictive practices include 5 types of restraints, chemical restraint, environmental restraint, mechanical restraint, physical restraint, and seclusion.
- clarify existing provider requirements regarding consent, monitoring and evaluation, and that any restrictive practice is used as a last resort
- include provisions for strengthening regulation of use of restrictive practices to enable the Commission to issue a regulatory notice when non-compliance with the amended Quality of Care Principles is identified.