More transparency for private and public health and aged care facilities

Published Thursday, 28 November, 2019 at 06:15 PM

Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services
The Honourable Steven Miles

Queensland families will have more information when choosing an aged care home or a hospital thanks to new laws passed by the Palaszczuk Government today.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Steven Miles said a new interactive website would be like TripAdvisor for healthcare in Queensland.

“This site will enable elderly residents and their families to make informed decisions when choosing an aged care service. They’ll know how many staff and what skills mix they have to take care of their elderly residents.

“We are asking private aged care providers to tell their clients and their families the level of care they can expect. If they refuse that will be disclosed too.

“We hope that greater transparency will help Queenslanders make informed choices when deciding where to live in residential aged care facilities.”

Residential aged care facilities will be asked to report their average daily resident care hours quarterly. Private residential aged care facilities can choose not to report this information, but their decision to opt-out will be highlighted beside their name on the new website.

Queensland Health’s residential aged care facilities will now have to have a minimum nurse skill mix of 50 per cent and for 30 per cent of the total care staff to be registered nurses. These residential aged care facilities must also provide a minimum average of 3.65 hours of nursing and personal care to residents daily.

Mr Miles said the new laws also create a standalone legislative framework to collect and publish information from public and private hospitals.

“This information will go on a website and will allow Queenslanders to compare public and private hospitals based on patient safety and quality indicator results as well as other consideration like parking and nearby accommodation.”

Queensland Health will now consult with private healthcare and aged care providers and develop the website over the next twelve months.

ENDS

Media contact: Katharine Wright 0428 957 903