Introduced in December 2022, the Australian Government’s Star Rating was launched to help people quickly understand and compare the service quality of a residential aged care provider.
Based on assessments conducted by the Australian Government, each aged care home will receive a Star Rating between 1 and 5 stars to indicate the quality of care across 4 key areas of performance: Compliance, Quality Measures, Residents’ Experience and Staffing.
‘Progress has been made, but improvements needed’
Independent ACT Senator David Pocock, whose office reviewed the new, publicly available data, warned that despite recent gains, big improvements are still needed.
“Our review of the star ratings for ACT-based facilities indicate that despite recent reforms, big improvements are still needed to lift the standard of care being provided.”
The comments come after it was identified that over half of aged care homes in the ACT are not meeting the newly required 40 registered nurse minutes, with one provider missing the minimum by 22 minutes.
‘Providers can trade off nursing minutes for more personal carer minutes to keep their ratings above three stars, even though personal care workers and registered nurses provide distinctly different services and levels of care.’
“From 1 July, all facilities will be required to have an RN on site and on duty 24/7, so we should start to see the gaps close pretty quickly,” Senator Pocock said.
Using data to improve Star Ratings
Aged Care providers will be required to submit their data for use in collaboration with the Star Ratings. If the information is not submitted, the information will not be displayed on the Star Rating, therefore having a detrimental effect on the quality and comparison of service.
Both ‘Staffing’ and ‘Quality Measures’ within the assessments for areas of performance are calculated by data that is submitted by the provider. This will derive from care minutes submitted to the Quarterly Financial Report and quality indicator data per quarter.
Having the appropriate operational workforce solutions in use will help providers to efficiently manage and report on the requirement, in place of manual workarounds.
Failure to provide the information within the confirmed timelines will result in a 1 Star Rating in the ‘Staffing’ and ‘Quality Measures’ key area of performance.
Get an Operational Grip on your Workforce
Every month over 13 million hours of care are redeployed using Allocate SafeCare across the world.
SafeCare helps providers to see staffing levels in real-time, to identify where you have too few or too many workers. It also provides assurance on staffing levels against the needs of your residents, including the 200 care and 40 registered nurse minutes.
To find out how Allocate SafeCare can support your organisation and your staff, click here.
