Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday during question time Senator McLucas asked me a question regarding the accreditation of Upper Jindalee Nursing Home in Canberra. I would like to add to the answer I gave to Senator McLucas by providing the following information.

A site audit was conducted on 16 and 17 May, and it was assessed against all 44 outcomes. It is crucially important to note that this included an assessment against expected outcome 4.7, ‘Infection control’, against which the Upper Jindalee Nursing Home was found to comply. The assessment team which carried out the site audit did recommend—and I stress ‘recommend’—noncompliance in a number of outcomes but did not recommend any noncompliance in any of the expected outcomes in the standard relating to health and personal care of residents or the standard relating to residents’ lifestyle.

I am advised by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency that, in this case, the agency’s senior decision makers considered that further information was required in order to make a proper decision. As a result, a further support contact was scheduled. The information from this visit provided further and more contemporary information about the home’s performance in those areas. This additional information was added to the information in possession of the decision maker, who also received a substantial submission from the home.

Taking all of these factors and sources of information into account, the agency decision maker decided that the Upper Jindalee Nursing Home complied with all 44 expected outcomes of the accreditation standards at the time of the decision, which was five weeks after the audit, and that the period of accreditation would be three years. I again remind Senator McLucas that it is not unusual for agency decision makers to come to a different view to that of the assessment team, and that the assessment teams make recommendations only, not decisions.