The Inspector-General of Aged Care, Natalie Siegel-Brown, has released the second progress report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which was tabled in Parliament yesterday September 4. The report calls for stronger action to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. According to the report, the new Aged Care Act 2024 represents a commitment in line with the calls of the Royal Commission, but more action is needed to transform the sector to achieve the Royal Commission’s recommendations, including in culturally and linguistically diverse care.
Included in the progress report collection (which can be found on the Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care’s website) is a fact sheet on ‘Culturally and linguistically diverse care’. One of the key messages of the fact sheet, also highlighted in the progress report, is the call for training in culturally safe and trauma-aware care to be made mandatory for aged care workers. This would align the Aged Care Act 2024, which only requires regular culturally safe care training, to the recommendations of the Royal Commission for compulsory training for culturally safe care for direct contact workers.
The Centre recognizes the crucial role that culturally safe training for aged care workers has in providing quality care for individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds and supports the Inspector-General’s attention to this topic in her progress report.
Integral to the Aged Care Act 2024 are the rights of the individual. The Centre strongly supports and is encouraged by the statement from the Inspector-General that “The rights-based approach needs to embrace and respond to cultural diversity.”
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