Senate debates

Thursday, 17 October 2019

Questions without Notice

Aged Care

2:59 pm

Photo of Richard ColbeckRichard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

It is true that not all aged-care facilities have a nurse on site 24 hours a day, but that is actually not required by the quality and safety standards that aged-care facilities operate under. What the quality and safety standards require from aged-care facilities is that they provide the quality of care at the level of safety that's required by those standards and by the acuity of the patients and the residents who are in those facilities. There is no requirement under the Australian quality and safety standards for facilities to have nurses on site 24 hours a day, so the rationale for the question I suppose stands to be questioned in that context. Aged-care providers are required to provide the quality of care at the level of safety that represents the acuity of residents in the facilities. That's what the quality and safety standards say, and that's what the government requires them to do.

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