No images? Click here
ACJ Newsletter
Friday, 14 February 2025
Newsletter Snapshot
1. New Aged Care Act: What does it mean for Australians?
2. Education: When can medication be used to manage behaviour?
3. Legal Update: Types of Complaints
4. Reform: National Plan to End the Abuse and Mistreatment of Older People 2024-2034
Aged Care Justice (ACJ) is a not-for-profit charity connecting aged care recipients and their loved ones to legal services.
If an aged care recipient is experiencing problems with their treatment or quality of care, we can connect them or their representative to a lawyer for a free legal consultation.
Call (03) 9016 3248, email info@agedcarejustice.org.au or click the button below to fill in the Get Help Form.
The new Aged Care Act:
What does it mean for Australians?
The new Aged Care Act (the Act) and its supporting legislation are to commence on 1 July 2025.
Some of the rules under the Act's delegated legislation are yet to be released.
The Act will introduce new fee information and funding classifications, resulting in means testing, caps for specific services, and an increase in the types of home care services. This will result in ‘user pays’ charges in residential and home care, and an increase in private aged care contracts.
People accessing private and supported aged care services will require legal information and support to ensure fairness in financial, health and personal decision making.
"The new Aged Care Act presents significant changes to how people use and pay for aged care services. The increase in co-contributions, the introduction of exit fees on RADs, and the new definitions of care and non-care categories, may cause confusion amongst the aged care community", says ACJ Chair Sue Williamson. "It is vital to ensure people can access independent and qualified support to assist them with such critical financial and care decisions" says Williamson.
ACJ will continue to support older Australians, and their families, by connecting them with lawyers on our legal panel to assist the aged care community in understanding and pursuing their rights. Each caller is entitled to a free initial legal consultation.
Education: When can medication be used to manage behaviour of an aged care resident?
ACJ receives numerous enquiries from family members and friends concerned by the use or the proposed use of medication to control the behaviour of a person in residential care. This is known as ‘chemical restraint’.
In response, ACJ has released Fact Sheets on Chemical Restraint to help the aged care community understand their rights and provider obligations, as part of a wider education project on restrictive practices in Victoria. This project received funding through the Victorian Legal Services Board Grants Program.
Any use of medication as a means to influence the behaviour of an older person, who is receiving aged care services, is known as chemical restraint. Chemical restraint is categorised as a restrictive practice because its use limits the rights or freedom of movement of a care recipient.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety in their Final Report released in March 2021, warned ‘inappropriate use of unsafe and inhumane restrictive practices can result in serious physical and psychological harm and, in some cases, death’ and required ‘immediate attention’.
A restrictive practice can only be used as a last resort to prevent harm after alternative strategies are explored, and requires informed consent from the care recipient or a substitute decision maker, with exceptions for emergency situations.
Recent changes to legislation have occurred at the federal and state levels relating to consenting to a restrictive practice.
On 15 October 2024, the Victorian Government introduced a Bill to Parliament containing a new consent model for restrictive practices to be enacted by 1 July 2025.
To help the aged care community understand the evolving law, ACJ has developed the following resources on Chemical Restraint in Residential Care:
- Fact Sheet on Chemical Restraint for aged care recipients and their families.
- Accessible Fact Sheet for those who use screen readers.
- Educational Video.
- A print Fact Sheet for those without access to a computer.
- Detailed Fact Sheet for the Legal Community to increase awareness of the issue and assist with referrals to improve access to justice.
We will be distributing further education material throughout the year on each type of restrictive practice for both residential and home care settings. Here are the estimated dates of release:
- Physical and Mechanical Restraint in Residential Care: 28 February 2025
- Environmental Restraint and Seclusion in Residential Care: 31 March 2025
- Chemical Restraint in Home Care: 25 April 2025
- Physical and Mechanical Restraint in Home Care: 30 May 2025
- Environmental Restraint and Seclusion in Home Care: 4 July 2025
- Restrictive Practices and Supporting the CALD and LGBTQIA+ Communities: 5 September 2025
To access the completed Chemical Restraint resources, please click below.
If you have any queries relating to this education material or these topics, please call ACJ on 03 9016 3248 or email info@agedcarejustice.org.au
Chemical Restraint Fact Sheets click here
Legal Update: Complaints Received by ACJ
ACJ has received an increase in complaints over the December and January period, involving a range of issues:
restricting access to residents
financial abuse while residing in aged care
severe neglect of health issues leading to death (untended wounds)
failure to appropriately monitor health issues leading to illness
lack of resources and trained staff to support high care needs
use of chemical restraint without consent
issues with Public Guardian not liaising with aged care facility to support the person’s care needs.
We were able to assist most complainants, and we thank our allied law firms that continue to provide a pro bono consultation service.
ACJ is looking for additional firms to join our legal panel Australia wide. Please contact us if you would like further information.
Reform: National Plan to End the Abuse and Mistreatment of Older People 2024-2034
On 12 December, 2024, the Attorney-General's Department invited consultation from the public on their 'draft National Plan to End the Abuse and Mistreatment of Older People 2024-2034'.
The draft Plan not only focuses on elder abuse in community settings, but also institutional settings such as aged care, and ACJ welcomes this inclusion.
In highlighting the frequency of abuse in aged care, the draft Plan refers to damning statistics, "a survey of aged care facility residents was conducted for the Aged Care Royal Commission. It estimated the prevalence of abuse in residential aged care to be 39.2%, when counting all participants who reported experiencing emotional abuse, physical abuse and/or neglect."
We believe that due to the complexity of issues faced by older Australians receiving aged care services, the area requires dedicated attention. Those reliant on aged care services are particularly vulnerable and are dealing with declining physical and cognitive health.
To support older Australians residing in residential aged care and receiving home care services, we must recognise their needs and rights as individuals, and develop specific legal support services to assist those in institutional settings.
The consultation calls for feedback on the draft Plan from those who have experienced mistreatment or abuse and by those who are working towards ending the abuse and mistreatment of older Australians.
Consultation ends on 17 February 2025, and the link can be found below.
Access to legal information and support is vital for our most vulnerable, as is legal education and lobbying for sector reform.
If you would like to support ACJ in delivering its aims please donate today.
