Al-`Aqar Healthcare REIT Annual Report 2019

AUSTRALIA The government is seeking feedback on where to allocate 10,000 new residential aged care beds in 2020 Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Richard Colbeck announced in middle December 2019 that applications for the 2020 Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) will open in March 2020 and close in May 2020. ACAR 2020 will offer: • 10,000 residential aged care places • 750 short-term restorative care places • up to $60 million in capital grants for residential aged care The government launched a targeted stakeholder consultation and public survey for this ACAR on Wednesday, 15 January 2020 to help identify geographic areas and special needs groups for the new places. Mr Colbeck said national peak aged care organisations, Aged Care Assessment Teams, Primary Health Networks, local councils, consumer groups and approved providers are invited to take part in the targeted consultation. The consultations will help identify unmet needs for residential aged care in terms of both geographic locations and the types of people whose needs should be targeted. Increasing the number of residential places in areas where they are in short supply will help to ensure people have a safe option, as close to home as possible. This also want to make sure that care is accessible for people who may be missing out, whether it’s because they are homeless, they have dementia, or they come from different cultural backgrounds. The 2018 to 2019 ACAR called for a focus on meeting the needs of seniors in non- metropolitan areas. Almost a third of the 13,500 residential places allocated last round went to residential providers in rural, regional and remote areas. Quality regulator becomes aged care’s one-stop shop The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is now the single regulator of aged care services and the primary point of contact for aged care providers and consumers for quality and safety matters. Recently passed aged care legislation amendments, which took effect on 1 January 2020, the following functions transitioned from the Department of Health to the quality and safety commission: • approval of all residential and home care providers • aged care compliance activity including prudential operations • the administration of compulsory reporting of assaults by approved providers These new roles build on the one-year-old commission’s existing responsibilities for complaints and the accreditation, assessment andmonitoringof agedcare services. Thequality and safety commission’s additional functions and responsibilities enact recommendations from the Carnell Paterson review of regulatory processes to create a one-stop shop for regulation and strengthen regulatory oversight of the sector. Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson said the commission now had a broader range of tools to drive improvements in aged care consumer experience and care outcomes. “The commission has an important role to play in holding aged care providers to account for the provision of such care, as required under the Aged Care Quality Standards. We complement this role through our work in promoting consumer engagement, providing information and education, and seeking to resolve complaints about aged care providers,” Ms Anderson said. (Extracted from Australia Ageing Agenda, December 2019 & January 2020) Al-`Aqar Healthcare REIT 03 STRATEGIC PERFORMANCE 55