A volunteer visitor program for residential aged care facilities should be improved so participants are better able to respond to suspected abuse, a federal parliamentary inquiry has found.
The step is one of 14 recommendations to emerge from the inquiry into the quality of care in Australian residential aged care facilities.
Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on health, aged care and sport, Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman, presented a report with the inquiry's findings on Monday.
He said the findings came while there were a range of changes to the aged care sector already underway, including combining two regulatory authorities in creating the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
The committee supported the thrust of ongoing reforms but believed other improvements could be made, Mr Zimmerman said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"There is more that can be done to improve our aged care system," he told the lower house.
The report recommends the Department of Health should develop national guidelines for the Community Visitors Scheme, through which volunteers make regular visits to aged care residents who are socially isolated.
The guidelines should include policies for volunteers to follow in the event they witness or suspect a resident is being abuse or neglected, the report states.
The federal government should also review aged care funding arrangements and the penalties issued to aged care providers who breach funding standards, the report recommends.
Ensuring all aged care facilities have at least one registered nurse on site at all times is another recommendation.
The advice comes before a royal commission into the aged care sector, which was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison last month.
Royal commissioners Joseph McGrath and Lynelle Briggs are required to release an interim report by October 31, 2019, with a final report due on April 30, 2020.
About 240,000 Australians use residential aged care annually, with about 80,000 accessing home care.
