The Department of Health and Aged Care is introducing three new staffing quality indicators for residential aged care in 2025 – part of the Australian Government’s ongoing reforms to aged care and its continuing response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The department’s vision is to deliver the highest quality care for older people, where and when they need it.
The National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program) collects data on 11 quality indicators across critical areas of care. These critical areas of care can affect residents’ health and wellbeing. The QI Program helps to monitor and improve the quality of services for older people living in residential care.
From Quarter 4 2024-25, residential aged care providers will also need to report against three new quality indicators:
■ enrolled nursing
■ allied health
■ lifestyle officers.
This means you will need to:
■ collect staffing quality indicator data from 1 April 2025
■ report new staffing quality indicator data in the Government Provider Management System by 21 July 2025.
Expanding the number of quality indicators from 11 to 14 to include these topics recognises the crucial role of staff in providing high-quality care.
Data collection and reporting details
There will be five new data points across the staffing quality indicators. Two for enrolled nursing, two for allied health and one for lifestyle officers.
Four of the five new data points will come from Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) data, meaning no additional reporting for those data points.
You will need to measure the enrolled nursing quality indicator against:
■ the proportion of enrolled nursing care minutes
■ the proportion of nursing (registered nurse and enrolled nurse) care minutes.
You already report this data through the QFR. The department will calculate the enrolled nursing quality indicator from data you submit through the QFR.
You will need to measure the allied health quality indicator against:
■ allied health care minutes
■ percentage of recommended allied health services received.
The department will calculate allied health care minutes from the data you submit through the QFR. You will need to collect and report new data for the percentage of recommended allied health services received.
You will need to report the lifestyle officer quality indicator against:
■ lifestyle officer care minutes. You already report this data through the QFR.
The department will calculate the lifestyle officer quality indicator from data you submit through the QFR. The department has published new quick-reference guides to help you prepare for this change. The guides will help you understand how to collect and report data: health.gov.au/ resources/collections/qi-program-quick-reference-guides
Have your say
There are plenty of opportunities for aged care providers and aged care workers to have their say about the changes to aged care:
■ Join our mailing list and stay up to date with issues affecting aged care workers and the sector at health.gov. au/aged-care-newsletter-subscribe
■ Visit the Aged Care Engagement Hub to find out about the latest consultation opportunities and outcomes at AgedCareEngagement.health.gov.au/get-involved
Department of Health and Aged Care