The Australian Government provides funding for community care service, including the:
- Community Aged Care Packages (CACP) and the Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) programs to provide care to eligible older people
- National Respite for Carers Program (NRCP) to provide support to carers of frail aged people and people with disabilities.
The Department of Health and Ageing implemented a new Accountability Framework in July 2005. The Framework is a process by which providers tell the Department how the services they provide meet the objectives and requirements of the respective programs.
The Framework is groundbreaking in that its purpose is to develop a single accountability framework encompassing the different quality standards and requirements of three programs - CACP, EACH and NRCP.
AHA were engaged to refine and deliver national training for Departmental assessors regarding the new Accountability Framework. Specifically, the training instructed assessors how to review the quality of care and services provided by agencies funded under the CACP, EACH and NRCP programs. Outcomes of the training were to provide participants with:
- a detailed understanding of the Accountability Framework and its reporting system for CACP, EACH, and the NRCP
- information and skills to review and analyse provider performance in a consistent manner
- appreciation of legislative, contractual and cultural cognisance required by providers
- knowledge required to conduct validation visits.