High Quality Aged Care

(The authors are actuaries, and directors of Australian Projections Pty Ltd.  Richard can be contacted on richard.cumpston@gmail.com, or 0433 170 276.)

The present aged care system fails to meet any of the five principles proposed by Commissioner Briggs.

Rather than removing the core aged care instrumentality out of the public service, there should be a radically reformed new Department of Health and Ageing.  The development of quality indicators should be transferred to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, and prudential regulation transferred to the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority.

There should be a data-based aged care system, using automated quality measurements to rapidly detect individual health problems.  Much of the exploratory research required could be initiated by the quality agency, rather than the proposed Aged Care Research Council.

Provider staff numbers should be automatically measured by staff clocking in when starting work and off when ending work.