Media Release

27 July 2006

Aged care complaints reforms welcome but licensing remains key issue

The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) today welcomed the Australian Government’s announcement of a new Office for Aged Care Quality and Compliance and a dedicated Aged Care Commissioner, in response to recent reports of abuse of elderly residents in aged care facilities.

‘We are pleased to see the Government taking measures and allocating significant funding to improve the safety and dignity of people in aged care facilities’, ANF Federal Secretary Jill Iliffe said.

The ANF expressed concern that the new office, in addition to its investigative role, would also have a role in mediation and supporting the resolution of complaints at the local level. ‘Most complaints fall into this category’, Ms Iliffe said.

‘It is also hoped that the new office when investigating complaints, will have a role in promoting quality and making recommendations for voluntary change in individual facilities to reduce the likelihood of further complaints being made about the same issue.

‘While these measures are welcome’, Ms Iliffe said, ‘the central issue remains the licensing of staff. The residents of aged care facilities deserve the highest quality of care and the best way to ensure that is for staff to be accountable to and regulated by an appropriate professional body.’

‘We license builders, electricians, plumbers, bus drivers and taxi drivers, but we don’t license those workers who care for the most frail, sick and vulnerable members of our community’, Ms Iliffe said.

The ANF is preparing a submission to the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council requesting that they address the issue of licensing all workers who provide direct care in aged care facilities.

Media inquiries
Jill Iliffe, Federal Secretary  0419 576 590
Ged Kearney, Assistant Federal Secretary 0417 053 322