Legislation Impacting On Volunteers Involved With Aged Care
The Federal Minister for Ageing, Senator the Hon. Santo Santoro, announced in April 2006 that operators of aged care service subsidised by the Australian Government under the Aged Care Act 1997 (external link) will require staff and certain volunteers to undergo a police check and assessment for suitability to work in aged care.
All new aged care workers and volunteers will be required to undergo police checks from 1st March, 2007 to ascertain their suitability to work with frail elderly Australians.
The legislation precludes any person
with a conviction for murder or sexual assault,
or a conviction for any other form of assault which
resulted in a prison sentence from working in
aged care.
Refusal to obtain a police certificate will also preclude a person from
employment in aged care.
In the case of less-serious convictions, aged care providers are required
to consider factors such as the position held by the employee and the extent
of contact with residents when making decisions about hiring staff/engaging
volunteers.
The Australian
Government's Department of Health and Ageing (external link) has
prepared a Fact
Sheet (external link) and associated Guidelines on the impact
of the changes to legislation.
More detail can be found here. (external link)
Legislation relating to the police checks for volunteers involved with aged care can be found here:
- Accountability
Amendment Principles 2006 (external link)- This instrument
amends the Accountability Principles 1998 by requiring
that operators of aged care services which are
subsidised by the Australian Government will require
that certain volunteers have
police certificates (commonly known as police checks).
- Community
Visitors Grant Amendment Principles 2006 (external link)-
amends the Community Visitors Grant
Principles 1997 to ensure that one of the conditions
for inclusion in all community visitors grants
agreements (Commonwealth) is a requirement for
police certificates.
- Record Amendment Principles 2006 (external link) - amends the Records Principles 1997 by requiring that approved providers of residential aged care services keep certain records in order to demonstrate compliance with requirements to obtain police checks for staff employed by them or engaged through employment agencies and certain volunteers.
