Care minutes in residential aged care

First published: November 2024

As part of the aged care reform roadmap, the Department of Health and Aged Care are making changes to the number of direct care minutes a resident in residential aged care receives each day from a clinical aged care worker. As of 2023, it sat at 200 minutes per day with 40 of these being from a registered nurse. In October 2024 this increased to 215, with registered nurses needing to dedicate at least 44 minutes of their day to each resident in their care. Due to workforce shortages in aged care, a new initiative was introduced with the 2024 changes, whereby 10% of the registered nurse minutes could be delivered by an enrolled nurse.

Why are care minutes in aged care important?

The aged care industry is governed by numerous bodies stating the legal and ethical requirements that surround resident aged care. The eight aged care quality standards showcases what good care looks like, with emphasis on the fact that anyone who receives aged care is entitled to the right to be treated with dignity and respect, as well as a level of care that meets their needs via a holistic approach. Through the reports published by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (the first being in 2019), 148 recommendations were listed when considering the development of the new Aged Care Act. There were a number of these that were focused on the standard of care in relation to staffing interactions:

• Recommendation 13: Embedding high quality aged care
• Recommendation 14: A general duty to provide high quality and safe care
• Recommendation 86: Minimum staff time standard for residential care
• Recommendation 122: Reporting of staffing hours

How are the care minutes in a residential aged care home reported?

Every aged care provider must submit a Quarterly Financial Report which details:

• Care minutes delivered by clinical members of staff (employees in a non direct care role do not count towards this)
• Financial statements
• Food and nutrition reports
• Outbreak management expenses
• Answers to viability and prudential compliance questions
• Labour costing at the home level

What happens if the care minutes level is not being met?

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission receives every QFR. If the care minutes are not being fulfilled, then action may be taken against non compliance.

The public can access information via this governing body to see how each service and provider is meeting their care minute targets. There is a current workforce shortage in Australia in the aged care industry, so there are many government initiatives which aims to increase these numbers. Workforce acquisition and retention was also named in the recommendations by the Royal Commission, which led to the 15% pay rise increase in 2023, along with efforts places upon quality training and education and utilising overseas nursing pools through programs such as the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme as an example.

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