The Minister quoted: "The data speaks for itself. It shows the vast majority of nursing homes are providing a world class service, but there is a small group - 46 nursing homes - that had failed to meet 44 accreditation standard outcomes under the Aged Care Act." The problem here is that there is an inbuilt assumption that says that if homes pass accreditation then they are 'ipso facto' delivering a world class service.

But accreditation does not measure delivery of care. It does not measure the skill base of the carers, it does not measure their ability to identify a delirium, it does not measure what carers might be doing at 9:30 at night when they are putting a resident to bed, it does not measure their understanding of anxiety disorder, depression, a resident who is having an adverse reaction to Risperdal or how a carer from a CALD background is interacting with a resident from a different CALD background.

The accreditation process measures one thing - the ability of a facility to pass accreditation. Until we realise that accreditation and the ability of a facility to deliver compassionate and professional care to residents are two fundamentally different things then aged care will remain in the chaotic state that it is already in.