National Health Amendment Act 1980 (Cth)
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BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:
“(5b) For the purposes of the operation of the condition set out in paragraph (b) of sub-section (5a), any Commonwealth benefit or nursing home fund benefit that would be payable to the proprietor of a nursing home but for the suspension of the approval of the nursing home shall be deemed to be payable to that proprietor.”.
“(4a) The Permanent Head may refuse to approve an application for the admission of a person to an approved nursing home if the admission is to take place during a period of suspension of the approval of the nursing home.”.
“43a. (1) The Permanent Head may, by notice in writing served by post on the proprietor of an approved nursing home (other than a Government nursing home), request the proprietor of the nursing home to prepare, from the records kept by him in accordance with section 61, such accounts with respect to the nursing home as are specified in the notice and to furnish a copy of the accounts so prepared, together with the report referred to in sub-section (3), to the Permanent Head.
“(2) A notice under sub-section (1) shall specify the manner in which, and the period in respect of which, the accounts to which the notice relates are to be prepared.
“(3) Before furnishing to the Permanent Head under sub-section (1) a copy of accounts prepared with respect to a nursing home, the proprietor of the nursing home shall cause a person having the prescribed qualifications to audit those accounts and to report whether, in his opinion, the accounts were properly drawn up so as to give a true and fair view of the income and expenditure of the nursing home in respect of the period to which the accounts relate.
“(4) Where, at the expiration of a period of 3 months, or of such longer period as the Permanent Head allows, after the service on the proprietor of a nursing home of a notice under sub-section (1), the proprietor of the nursing home has not complied with the notice, the Permanent Head may, by notice in writing served by post on the proprietor of the nursing home—
(a) suspend the approval of the nursing home for such period as is specified in the notice (not being a period that commences before the date of service of the notice); or
(b) revoke the approval of the nursing home.”.
(a) by inserting in sub-section (2) “or suspend” after “revoke”; and
(b) by adding at the end thereof the following sub-section:
“(4) A variation of the nature of, or a revocation or suspension of, an approval of a nursing home under this section shall be effected by notice in writing served by post on the proprietor of the nursing home, and, in the case of a notice suspending an approval, the notice shall set out the period of the suspension (not being a period that commences before the date of service of the notice).”.
(a) by omitting paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) and substituting the following paragraph:
“(b) approval as an approved nursing home has been revoked or suspended, or a period of suspension of that approval has been extended, by the Permanent Head,”; and
(b) by omitting from sub-section (3) “grant such approval” and substituting “take such other action with respect to the approval of the nursing home”.
“45a.(1) Where, at any time during a period of suspension of the approval of a nursing home, the Permanent Head is satisfied that, by reason of action taken by the proprietor, or other change of circumstance, with respect to the nursing home, the suspension should be terminated, the Permanent Head shall, by notice in writing served by post on the proprietor of the nursing home, terminate the suspension accordingly.
“(2) Subject to sub-section (1), the Permanent Head, at any time during the period of suspension of the approval of a nursing home, may, by notice in writing served by post on the proprietor of the nursing home, revoke the approval or extend the period of suspension of the approval to a date specified in the notice.
“45b. Notwithstanding the suspension of the approval of a nursing home under this Act, that approval, subject to the operation of the following provisions, remains in force for all purposes:
(a) sub-section (5b) of section 40aa;
(b) sub-section (4a) of section 40ab;
(c) section 49a;
(d) sub-section (1a) of section 73c”.
“49a.The proprietor of an approved nursing home is not entitled to Commonwealth benefit in respect of any day that is included in a period of suspension of the approval of the nursing home.”.
“61. (1) The proprietor of an approved nursing home shall keep such records as will enable claims for Commonwealth benefits to be verified and enable compliance with the conditions to which the approval of the nursing home is subject to be verified.
Penalty: $1,000.
“(2) Where the Permanent Head considers that it would facilitate the administration of this Act in relation to a particular approved nursing home (not being a Government nursing home) if the proprietor of the approved nursing home were required to keep further records with respect to the nursing home in addition to the records referred to in sub-section (1), the Permanent Head may, by notice in writing served by post on the proprietor of that approved nursing home, require the proprietor, on and after a date specified in the notice (not being a date earlier than the date of service of the notice), to keep such further records accordingly.
“(3) A notice under sub-section (2) shall specify—
(a) the particulars of the further records required to be kept by the proprietor of the approved nursing home concerned; and
(b) the manner in which those further records are to be kept.
“(4) The proprietor of an approved nursing home shall comply with any notice served on him under sub-section (2).
Penalty: $1,000.
“(5) The proprietor of an approved nursing home shall permit any records kept by him in accordance with sub-section (1), or with a notice under sub-section (2), to be inspected at any reasonable time by an officer or person authorized to make inspections of those records.
Penalty for any contravention of this sub-section: $1,000.
“62. (1) A person shall not make a statement, either orally or in writing, or issue or present a document containing information, that is false or misleading in a material particular and is capable of being used in, in connection with or in support of—
(a) an application under section 40aa for approval of premises as an approved nursing home;
(b) an application under section 40ae to alter the conditions applicable to a nursing home;
(c) a request to the Minister under section 40ae to review a decision of the Permanent Head;
(d) an application under section 40ag for a determination with respect to a patient of a nursing home;
(e) a request under sub-section (1) of section 45 to vary the nature of an approval of a nursing home; or
(f) a claim for Commonwealth benefit. Penalty: $10,000 or imprisonment for 5 years.
“(2) A person shall not, in pursuance of a request made under section 60b, furnish information that is false or misleading in a material particular.
Penalty: $10,000 or imprisonment for 5 years.
“(3) In a prosecution of a person for an offence against this section, it is a defence if the person proves that he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that the statement or information to which the prosecution relates was false or misleading, as the case may be.
“63. (1) Subject to sub-section (2), a prosecution for an offence against section 62 shall be on indictment.
“(2) Where a person is charged with an offence against section 62, a court of summary jurisdiction may, with the consent of the defendant and of the prosecutor and if the court is satisfied that it is proper to do so, determine the charge summarily, but, in that event, the penalty that the court may impose is a fine not exceeding $2,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months.
“(3)
For the purposes of this section, an offence created by section 5 or 7 of the
“(1a) Sub-section (1) does not require provision for the payment of a benefit to the proprietor of a nursing home in respect of any day that is included in a period of suspension of the approval of the nursing home.”.
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