The revised Aged Care Act and the Labor Government's pledge to establish a universal registration system for caregivers will be brought to Parliament in 2023.

The previous Coalition Government in general approved of this plan, which was a proposal from the Aged Care Royal Commission. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency's recommended approach, nevertheless, was rejected by the previous administration (AHPRA).

The enrollment programme has been put back into preparation by the Labor Government with other elderly care reforms, and the Health Department is delaying bringing the issue before Parliament until the following year to enable stakeholder feedback.

Along with care users and their families, States and Territories are among the parties who, according to the Department, may need to assist the system's adoption.

"We have investigated and heard directly from the industry who support us and they wish that we spend the necessary time to do this right," a representative for the Health Department said.

In accordance with Recommendation 77 of the Royal Commission, the Government plans to develop a thorough and reliable national registration programme for home care workers.

The national registration plan of the last Coalition Government, which wasn't scheduled to start for yet another 24 months, is still being implemented before this effort.

English language proficiency criteria, a criminal background check, and continuous professional development standards for aged care professionals are anticipated to be included in the 2023 registration system.

The elderly care industry has been debating a national registration programme for caregivers, with some claiming it would create basic standards of conduct and a structure of Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

In order to address the concerns of abuse, neglect, and subpar treatment discovered by the Ageing Care support, an independent statutory registration agency for aged care employees was formed in 2019. However, membership in this independent organisation was voluntary, thus elderly care providers had to do it themselves.




The elderly care industry is generally in favour of the program as long as it doesn't adversely impact a workforce that is already in difficulty, and there is still one year before the aged care worker registering plan may be put into effect.

The Sydney Morning Herald was informed by the Health Services Union NSW that although the union supports the registration of aged care workers, it wants to prevent the program from being used as a "punitive" way of measuring and believes that employees shouldn't be required to pay for their registration to a federal database.

According to Gerald Hayes, secretary of the HSU NSW, "the issue we see is that you have got a staff that is under tremendous stress, a workforce that is vanishing."

The Aged Care Royal Commission's first conclusions at the time, according to Janet Lawrence, the founder and CEO of the Australian College of Care Workers (ACCW), highlighted the fact that the aged care industry required its workforce's confidence and responsibility to be rebuilt.

We are in favour of registration that encourages and supports skill development.

HSU opposes a nationwide system that would exclude employees from the industry because it would deter users from coming or contemplating a career in elderly care.

Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) interim chief executive officer Paul Sadler stated the organisation supports the new registration method. According to him, delaying the law until next year will give more time to perfect the worker registration procedure. He made this statement to the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Connection with the NDIS registration procedure and involvement with nursing and allied health certification need to be handled," he added.

"We need to give personal care employees some time to be ready for the switch to a registration paradigm.”

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