EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Ageing
Aged Care Act 1997
Records Amendment Principles 2007 (No. 1)
The Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) provides for the funding of aged care services.
Subsection 96-1(1) of the Act allows the Minister to make Principles providing for various matters required or permitted by a Part or section of the Act.
The Records Principles 1997 (the Records Principles) are one of the sets of Principles made under the Act.
On 27 March 2007 the Aged Care Amendment (Security and Protection) Bill 2007 (the Bill) passed through Parliament giving effect to announcements made by the Australian Government in 2006 to increase protections for residents including the introduction of compulsory reporting of sexual assault, and certain forms of physical assault, in residential aged care services.
The compulsory reporting requirements are detailed in section 63-1AA of the Act, and in the Accountability Principles 1998.
As part of the new requirements, approved providers of residential aged care services will be required to keep certain records in order to demonstrate compliance with the new requirements.
The purpose of these Amending Principles is to detail those records that must be kept.
The Amending Principles are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Consultation
The proposed new arrangements for the compulsory reporting of sexual and certain physical assault have been the subject of extensive consultation with the aged care sector.
An exposure draft of these Amending Principles was circulated to members of the Minister for Ageing’s Aged Care Advisory Committee as well as to other organisations which made submissions to the Senate Inquiry into the Bill. Exposure drafts of the Investigation Principles 2007, the Accountability Amendment Principles 2007 and the Information Amendment Principles 2007, which collectively give effect to the new compulsory reporting requirements and the new complaints processes, were also provided. Comments received on the drafts were generally supportive of the proposed approach. The Department of Health and Ageing has taken these comments into account in drafting the final Principles.
The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency has also been consulted in relation to their role in monitoring the new arrangements.
Regulation Impact Statement
The Office of Best Practice Regulation has advised that no Regulation Impact Statement is required (RIS ID 8438).
Details of the amendments to the Principles are listed at Attachment A.
ATTACHMENT A
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 states that the name of the Principles is the Records Amendment Principles 2007 (No. 1).
Clause 2 states that these Principles commence on 1 July 2007.
Clause 3 states that Schedule 1 amends the Records Principles 1997.
Schedule 1 Amendment
Item 1
Section 19.5 of the Records Principles describes the kinds of records that must be kept by approved providers. Item 1 inserts a new section 19.5AA which describes the kinds of records to be kept by approved providers in relation to allegations or suspicions of reportable assaults under the compulsory reporting requirements described in section 63-1AA of the Act.
19.5AA Kinds of records to be kept – allegations or suspicions of reportable assaults
This new section provides that in order to be compliant with the new compulsory reporting arrangements, approved providers must keep consolidated records of all incidents involving allegations or suspicions of reportable assaults.
This requirement includes keeping records of both reportable assaults which are reported to a police service and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Ageing, and reportable assaults that are not required to be reported because the circumstances described in subsection 63-1AA(3) of the Act exist. The reportable assaults which are not required to be reported to the police and the Secretary are described in section 1.31 of the Accountability Principles 1998.
Under the record keeping requirements, approved providers must keep records about:
- the date when the approved provider received the allegation, or started to suspect on reasonable grounds, that a reportable assault had occurred; and
- a brief description of the allegation or circumstances that gave rise to the suspicion; and
- information about whether the reportable assault was reported to a police service and the Secretary (as required under subsection 63-1AA(2) of the Act) or was not reported (in line with subsection 63-1AA(3) of the Act).
A note at the end of section 19.5AA sets out the relevant provisions of the Accountability Principles 1998 that describe the circumstances in which an approved provider may exercise the discretion not to report a reportable assault to the police and the Secretary (in accordance with subsection 63-1AA(3) of the Act).
The Department of Health and Ageing will be providing guidance to approved providers about the type of information that should be retained in order to enable approved providers to demonstrate compliance with these record-keeping requirements.