Royal Commission Announces Service Provider Survey on 14 December 2018

As part of the commencement phase of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Commissioners have invited each approved aged care provider under the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) to make an early written submission in relation to each aged care service or outlet they operate.

As part of this submission, the Commissioners have requested that providers complete a detailed survey. The purpose of this request is to seek information on a number of specific matters, and to give providers an opportunity to identify what areas they think need to be changed and how those areas might be changed^[1].

Details of the FAQ information regarding the survey is available at: https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/submissions/Pages/service-provider-survey.aspx. For your ease, we have reprinted the FAQ in full overleaf^[2].

Key aspects of the early submission are provided below:

Where are the questions providers must address?

Copies of the Commissioners’ letter which includes the questions that providers must address, as well as the items of care can be located at:

• Letter to providers (which includes Questions 1 to 8 to be answered by providers).
• Providers spreadsheet (which is the recommended template to respond to Question 1(c)).

In what form should the submission be submitted?

It should be submitted by email to ACRCProviderResponses@royalcommission.gov.au as:

• a PDF file that is machine-readable and word-searchable; as well as
• an Excel file with the completed summary tables requested in questions 1(c) and 2(c)

The Commission is seeking a total response per outlet or service of no more than 50 pages.

By when must the early written submission be provided?

Submissions should be provided no later than Monday 7 January 2019 (for those larger providers that received a letter dated 23 November 2018) and Friday 8 February 2019 for all other providers.

Members of the public will be asked to provide details of their experience and knowledge of the quality and safety of aged care in Australia.

The Royal Commission will hold its preliminary hearing in Adelaide on Friday, 18 January 2019. This will be followed by hearings involving the appearance of witnesses in Adelaide in February and March, and in other locations around Australia in the following months. Details of upcoming hearings will be announced progressively during 2019.

Support and Next Steps

For assistance regarding the potential impact on your insurance program you can contact Lyle Steffensen at lyle.steffensen@marsh.com or 02 8864 7582.

_{[1] © Commonwealth of Australia 2018.}

_{[2] The FAQs are © Commonwealth of Australia and are reproduced as at 12pm on 17 December 2018 but are subject to change without notice. The FAQs are reproduced pursuant to public license ‘Creative Common Attribution 4.0 International’, the terms of which can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode, including the disclaimer of warranties at section 5.}