1997

On 1 July, the Australian Government introduced the new Aged Care Act 1997. The Act was a key piece of legislation that reformed and structured the provision of aged care services, emphasising quality care, funding, and regulatory standards.

A key aspect of the Act was the requirement of residential aged care homes to upgrade their building, safety and privacy standards. Further, the government imposed new measures to protect the rights of residents.

Resthaven’s already busy Maintenance Services Manager was put under increased pressure to action major maintenance issues throughout Resthaven, regarding electrical, painting and cabinetmaking works.

While maintaining and improving quality in the lives of the older people remained a fundamental aim for Resthaven, it was felt that the introduced changes effectively ended the availability of funding for building upgrades, whilst imposing a regime that demanded high building standards for residential care.

“… Our ongoing commitment to residential care … is one key issue, whilst generating the capital and deciding on priorities for the constantly required upgrading of our facilities is a second major concern.” — Board President, Geoffrey Bean AM

The Act also introduced a system of accreditation for aged care providers, requiring them to meet national quality and safety standards. This would become a requirement in the new millennium. To comply, Resthaven began to focus its energies to integrate continuous improvement into quality systems. Training modules were developed to ensure that staff were well equipped.

Although the formal accreditation process only applied to residential care, Resthaven’s Community Services also took the opportunity to implement a quality management system to continually improve services in line with consumer demands and best practice.

Key to future planning, the concept of ‘community care’ was introduced by the Act, allowing the elderly to remain in their own homes for longer periods — a measure that Resthaven embraced with the ongoing investment in Community Services.

The reforms impacted on the nature of service offered at Murray Bridge, with the innovative outreach Hostel Links service redefined to become a community aged care package program in October 1997.

Overall, the Aged Care Act 1997 helped establish a more formalised and standardised system of care for older Australians.

‍