The Australian Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission is responsible for assessing and accrediting aged care services in Australia. The agency publishes reports on its website (www.myagedcare.gov.au) which provide information about the quality of aged care services, including their star ratings. I previously blogged on this when the star ratings were about to be released in December 2022.
The ratings were most recently reviewed and updated ratings released early this month.
Most facilities in Western Australia have either maintained their earlier rating or have improved on their earlier rating. In December a majority of facilities in WA achieved a 3 star or “acceptable” rating. 2 stars and below means some improvements are required.
It is pleasing to see that more facilities are now at 4 stars than was the case in December. However, there are still a few facilities in this State which are at 2 stars, including some newer facilities which charge residents quite large additional sums every day for “extra services”.
Care need be exercised in evaluating facilities on the basis of the star grading alone as the grading is arrived at by judging facilities on 4 categories:
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- Compliance
- Quality Measures
- Resident Experience
- Staffing
Many facilities have been, and continue to be, marked down on their staffing levels. This may be harsh as the staffing problems in aged care, which have been extensively documented, are not easily remedied. The recently approved and most welcome 15% wage increase to most aged care staff hopefully will help address some of the problems in this regard.
Those facilities which fall short of the mark on quality measures and compliance need closer examination. Of course, resident experience is also a good indicator of whether the facility is providing the service that it sets out to do.
When visiting a facility, we always recommend that clients check the ratings ahead of our visit (we do too!) and ask the facility’s representative questions about any concerns they have, both in relation to the star grading and the facility generally.
Please contact us with any queries that you have about the gradings or placement of a loved one in an aged care facility.
To stay up to date with Aged Care News you can also visit Aged Care Quality
