Aged care and health: Royal Commission and Reforms

Key takeaways

• Once released, familiarise yourself with the new Code of Conduct to avoid substantial potential penalties for non-compliance  
• Expect to see a potential increase in regulatory engagement given the new role of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

Effective 8 August 2022, the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 was passed, enabling major improvements to aged care in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. 
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The following information provides a high-level summary of the reforms for health care workers with the potential for further reforms for nursing staff requirements.

Summary of reforms for health care workers

• A new Code of Conduct for Health Care Workers to replace the current code.
• As the current code (although national) is enforced at the State/Territory level, therefore creating ambiguity regarding application/coverage, the new Code will be overseen at the Federal level by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner
• Under the new Code, the Commissioner will have certain banning powers.

Following the release of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, reforms have remained a significant agenda item for the Australian Government. Earlier this month, the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 (Cth) was passed. This Bill addresses the Royal Commission’s recommendations and impacts a range of stakeholders, including health care workers.

In particular, there will now be a new National Code of Conduct for health care workers which will be administered at the Federal level (New National Code). This will replace the current National Code of Conduct, the application and coverage of which is presently fragmented across each of the State and Territories. This has led to ambiguity as to whether certain healthcare workers are covered, depending on where they are employed, their specific work-setting and what health care services they are providing. The New National Code seeks to remove this ambiguity in order to create greater consistency in the regulatory framework.

This will largely be achieved through the Commissioner of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission overseeing the sector’s compliance with the New National Code. The Commissioner will have the usual powers to monitor, investigate and enforce compliance. However, these powers will include the power to ban aged care workers and governing persons of any approved aged care providers and imposing certain civil penalties (currently up to a maximum of around $55,000 per breach).

Possible further reforms on nursing staff requirements

‍The Australian Parliament is also currently debating a second bill on aged care, which proposes certain reforms relating to minimum registered nursing staff requirements and home care charges. Stay tuned for more updates.

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