Heather Douglas Speech Pathologist

 Aged Care Act 1997: Established Accreditation for all federally funded Aged Care Facilities within Australia. The first round of accreditation was completed in 2000 with subsequent rounds in 2003 & Four Standards established:- Standard 1 = Management Standard 2 = Care Standard 3 = Lifestyle Standard 4 = Safety

Forty –four Outcomes relating to those four Standards  Outcome s 1.1 ; 2.1 ; 3.1; and 4.1 all demand evidence of Continuous Improvement.  Therefore the industry is driven to evidence this improvement.  To find the evidence an auditor investigates the “systems”.  What systems and what makes a system work?

Systems Clinical systems Documentation Incident reporting Infection data collection Service Improvement Team meetings Benchmarking Etc,etc.

 The system must make sense to the people in the industry.  Must be compliance to the system.  There must be sufficient time and staff numbers to implement the system.  Skilled and knowledgeable workforce.

The system must make sense to the people in the industry. Often staff are not aware that systems can help them perform more efficiently. Often staff are not aware that systems can protect them in a legal sense. Components of a “System” need to easily accessed and understood by all relevant staff.

 Must there be a “Healthy” workforce? Mental Health Physical Health Sensory Health

Time hungry industry High needs clients Constancy of demand Complex and difficult clientele with multiple medical issues.

Skilled and knowledgeable workforce. Shortage of Registered Nurses. Shortage of funds to employ Allied Health. “ Smoke –screen” of Social Model versus Medical Model of care? Knowledge level of the assessors auditing the systems?

Assessors must be aware of best practice methodologies across all disciplines within the aged care industry in order to accurately judge improvements in those service delivery Systems. The best way to ensure best outcomes for our residents is to draw from a diversity of service domains,not just nursing, thus enriching the lives of the elderly in our care.

Systems ? Systems are your business Multiple issues Sharing ideas, respecting each others’ contribution will ultimately resolve in best outcomes for the aged in our residential facilities.