QI program officially adds 3 new residential care staffing quality indicators

Three new staffing quality indicators will be introduced for residential care providers in 2025 after the Department of Health and Aged Care confirmed it will start monitoring data for enrolled nursing, allied health and lifestyle officers under the QI program.

There will be a total of 14 quality indicators once this trio is added, with providers to start collecting data from April 1 2025.

Data must be reported through the Government Provider Management System (GPMS) by July 21 2025 with reports required for each resident every three months. 

Providers are unlikely to have to capture additional data with four of the new five data points that make up the three new indicators already included in the Quarterly Financial Report. 

The Department said the introduction of the staffing quality indicators ensures the right mix of transparency, accountability and practicality to ensure the continual improvement of residential aged care services. 

“These new quality indicators recognise the value nurses, allied health and lifestyle officers bring to aged care residents,” Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells, said. 

“While it’s great to see improvements across the sector, our work continues to lift the quality of residential aged care in Australia. The new staffing quality indicators put the focus on key roles that support health and wellbeing.”

“We are determined to ensure older people have high-quality care that safeguards their health and wellbeing as they age. Quality indicators are one important way we achieve this.”

The Department consulted on expanding the quality indicator program between January and June of this year, which also included a six-week pilot with 69 residential care providers. 

There was consistent support for the three additional staffing indicators with many providers and stakeholders viewing it as a positive step towards recognising the role of enrolled nurses, allied health professionals and lifestyle officers.

This is particularly important as the latter two roles are not explicitly required under things like the care minutes mandates.

Mirus Australia data reveals enrolled nurse minutes across aged care sit at 6.3 minutes per resident per day as of September 2024, while allied health is 4.2 and lifestyle (diversional therapy) 5.6 minutes. 

As for StewartBrown’s most recent data, from March, they reported 11.3 minutes for enrolled & licensed nurses, 4.6 minutes for allied health and 6.6 minutes for diversional/lifestyle/activities.

Meanwhile, the Department also believes that it can become an international leader in data collection and analysis of lifestyle quality indicators in aged care.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) regularly publishes the data collected by the quality indicator program, which includes existing quality indicators such as medication management, incontinence care, hospitalisations and pressure injuries. 

While consultation has ended for residential care quality indicator expansion, HealthConsult is commencing a 12-week pilot to test the proposed quality indicators for home care.

Seven quality indicators will be trialled under three overarching domains: Consumer experience (quality of care experience, participant overall rating, willingness to recommend), Quality of Life and Service Delivery/Care Planning (participant involvement in care planning, missed visits, review of care plan). 

There has been some criticism regarding the pilot, however, with concerns over the assessment tools being used. Past experience has reportedly seen some distress among aged care residents and poor data collection for providers.