Protecting Older Australians: COVID-19 update 11 November 2020

Published 12th November 2020

Infection prevention and control leads in aged care facilities

The Secretary of the Department of Health, Dr Brendan Murphy has written to approved residential aged care providers and NATSIFAC providers providing further guidance in relation to the infection prevention and control (IPC) lead requirements.

All residential aged care facilities must appoint an IPC clinical lead by 1 December 2020. By 31 December 2020, all nominated IPC leads must have enrolled in and/or commenced a suitable IPC training course if they do not have suitable existing qualifications. Individuals enrolled in training courses must have an identified date for completion that is before 28 February 2021.

It is expected that the second COVID-19 supplement will be used to fund the IPC lead and their training.

More information on the IPC lead requirements is available on the department’s website.

One week to go – Start Using the Aged Care Provider Portal for online claims

Due to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, aged care providers have until 20 November 2020 to get access to Services Australia’s new Aged Care Provider Portal (ACPP). The ACPP was launched on 30 October 2019. After this date, you will not be able to use the older Aged care Online Claiming and Aged Care Online Services portals.

Once you have access to the ACPP, you can start using it straight away – there is no need to wait. Data is synchronised between the old and new portals.

The Aged Care Provider Portal (ACPP) is designed to minimise the time it takes for providers to submit their claims online. You can check out these education materials to learn more about using the ACPP. 

Users of business-to-government (B2G) software will need to get ACPP access to continue to check the status of submitted events and claims. This is in addition to any third party software you currently use.

If you need help in supporting your transition, please contact Services Australia on 1800 195 206 Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm AEDT).

Visit the Services Australia website for more information.

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission ‘Lessons Learned’ project

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has recently launched a lessons learned project. The goal of this project is to collect and share the lessons learned by providers who experienced COVID-19 outbreaks in one or more of their residential aged care services.

The Commission is in the process of conducting interviews with providers and plans to complete interviews by the end of November 2020.

During these interviews, the Commission is seeking to understand:

• What was learned prior to, during and following COVID-19 outbreaks
• What is being done differently now
• Observations about the involvement of other parties, including the Commission, in responding to the residential aged care outbreaks in Victoria.

Once this information has been collected, the Commission will share the lessons learned by providers across the aged care sector in a de-identified way. These insights are expected to be highly valuable and relevant for all providers in their on-going consideration of how to keep residents safe whilst also protecting the physical, social and emotional wellbeing in a “COVID normal” environment.

Reminder – webinar on grief and trauma support

A reminder that Phoenix Australia, one of the organisations delivering trauma support to the aged care sector is hosting a free webinar to explore how trauma may affect residents, families, staff and management, and how it can impact delivery of care.

When: 4:00pm-5:00pm (AEDT), Wednesday 11 November 2020

A panel of trauma experts from Phoenix Australia will discuss:

• How to identify and manage potential sources of trauma
• How trauma-informed care practices can better support residents, their families, and staff.

You can find more information and register for free (please use Google Chrome). The webinar will be made available online afterwards for anyone who cannot attend on the day.

Source:
Unknown Author, 2020, Department of Health