The Care Minute targets implemented by the Australian Government represent a crucial aspect of the broader aged care reforms initiated in response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. These reforms are designed to ensure that residential aged care facilities deliver consistent, high-quality care by mandating minimum direct care time provided by qualified healthcare professionals.
With the Care Minute targets increasing in October 2024, residential aged care providers need to be prepared for the changes. This article aims to help you understand these targets, the implementation timeline, and how Acredia’s software solutions can support compliance while improving the quality of care provided to your residents.
What are Care Minutes?
Care Minutes refer to the total amount of direct care time that registered nurses (RNs), enrolled nurses (ENs), and personal care workers (PCWs)/assistants in nursing (AINs) provide to residents each day. These care activities include:
- Clinical care (e.g., administering medications, wound management, diabetes management)
- Personal care (e.g., assisting with daily living activities like eating, bathing, dressing, and continence care)
- Social and emotional support (e.g., engaging in conversations with residents, assisting with personal hobbies)
The care minute targets ensure that residents receive a minimum of direct care daily, with specific time allocations for RNs, ENs, and PCWs.
Starting in October 2024, the Government mandates an average of 215 care minutes per resident per day, with 44 minutes specifically delivered by RNs. These targets aim to improve the standard of care and ensure that residents’ physical, emotional, and medical needs are met.
For more information see Care time reporting assessments – Information for providers
Why are Care Minute Targets Being Introduced?
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety identified that many aged care facilities were failing to meet basic standards of care, with staffing levels often inadequate to provide sufficient assistance with daily living activities. The Commission’s findings included numerous instances of substandard care, such as neglecting hygiene, nutrition, and mobility needs, leading to poor health outcomes for residents.
The Commission’s Final Report highlighted staffing levels as one of the most critical factors affecting the quality of care. It recommended that the Government introduce minimum care minute responsibilities to increase care time for residents, ensuring they receive the attention they deserve. These minimum care minute targets are also linked to the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model, ensuring that aged care providers are financially supported to meet these requirements.
For providers, this means a significant focus on workforce planning, recruitment, and retention to meet these new standards. More importantly, it presents an opportunity to enhance the overall quality of care, ensuring that residents live with dignity, respect, and the attention they deserve.
Timeline for Care Minute Implementation
The implementation of care minutes is happening in phases to allow providers to gradually adjust to the new requirements:
- October 2022: Providers were encouraged to meet non-mandatory care minute targets of 200 care minutes per resident per day, including 40 RN minutes.
- October 2023: The care minute targets became mandatory, requiring providers to meet a sector-wide average of 200 care minutes per resident per day, with 40 minutes delivered by RNs.
- October 2024: The care minute targets will increase to 215 minutes per resident per day, including 44 RN minutes. Providers will also have the flexibility to count up to 10% of RN-specific care minutes as EN care minutes, helping address workforce shortages.
These phased targets give providers time to adapt their staffing models, workforce management, and operational processes to ensure compliance with requirements.
How do Care Minute Targets Affect Aged Care Providers?
The new care minute requirements impact various aspects of service delivery, staffing, and funding for aged care providers. Here’s what you need to know:
- Meeting Individual Care Minute Targets
Each residential aged care service will have an individual care minute target, which may differ from the sector average. These targets are determined based on the casemix of the residents in the facility, as assessed under the AN-ACC funding model. Providers are responsible for meeting these individual service-level targets, which are calculated each quarter. - Increased Registered Nurse Time
From October 2024, the RN-specific time requirement will increase to 44 minutes per resident per day. Providers must ensure they have enough registered nurses on staff to meet this increased requirement. The flexibility to count up to 10% of RN-specific care minutes as EN time is designed to provide some relief, allowing enrolled nurses to take on more responsibilities under the supervision of RNs. - Workforce Planning Challenges
The increased care minute targets will require careful workforce planning. Providers will need to ensure they have enough RNs, ENs, and PCWs to meet the required care minutes. Workforce shortages, particularly for registered nurses, are already a challenge for many aged care facilities. With these new targets, recruitment and retention strategies will be more important than ever. - Funding Under AN-ACC
Care minute funding is delivered through the AN-ACC funding model, which includes provisions for direct care staff wages. This model helps ensure that providers receive adequate funding to cover the costs associated with meeting care minute requirements. However, it is essential for providers to manage these funds efficiently and ensure that staffing models are sustainable.
Flexibility for Enrolled Nurses (ENs) in Care Minute Targets
Recognising the vital role enrolled nurses (ENs) play in aged care, the Government has introduced flexibility in how providers can meet their RN care minute targets. Starting from October 2024, ENs can deliver up to 10% of the RN-specific care minutes. This means that for a facility with a 44-minute RN requirement, 4.4 minutes can be covered by an EN.
This change helps alleviate some pressure on providers struggling with RN shortages, allowing them to distribute workloads across their nursing staff better. It also recognises the significant contributions ENs make to resident care while ensuring that RNs remain responsible for overseeing care delivery and outcomes.
Meeting Care Minute Targets: How Acredia Can Help
Achieving these new care minute targets presents challenges, particularly in managing staff workloads, tracking care delivery, and ensuring compliance. Acredia provides a range of software tools specifically designed for residential aged care providers to streamline workforce management, track care delivery, and ensure compliance with the new standards.
Key Features of Acredia’s Software:
- Real-Time Care Minute Tracking
Acredia’s platform offers real-time tracking of care minutes, enabling providers to monitor how much direct care time each member of staff is delivering. This feature ensures that providers can adjust staffing or care delivery in real-time to avoid falling short of care minute targets. - Efficient Workforce Planning
With Acredia’s staff allocation tools, providers can optimise their workforce to meet care minute requirements without overburdening their team. The platform helps allocate the right resources at the right times, ensuring that all resident care needs are met while keeping staff workloads manageable. - Care Direct App for Seamless Documentation
Acredia’s Care Direct app simplifies documentation with the use of NFC tags or QR codes placed at resident rooms or care stations. This system eliminates manual errors and allows care workers to instantly access resident information, record care activities, and communicate with registered nurses. The app integrates directly with the Acredia platform, capturing care minutes and ensuring accurate documentation for compliance purposes. - Compliance and Reporting
Acredia’s platform is built to support providers in meeting their regulatory obligations. From tracking care minutes to automating reports, Acredia makes it easy to comply with care minute targets, helping you avoid penalties and ensuring high-quality care for your residents. - Customisable Care Minute Management
The platform allows providers to tailor how care minute data is tracked and reported, ensuring that each facility’s needs are met. Whether you need to monitor individual resident care or aggregate data for compliance reporting, Acredia offers the flexibility you need.
Preparing for the Future of Aged Care
As the aged care sector evolves, providers must be ready to adapt to new regulations and standards. The Care Minute targets represent a significant step forward in improving the quality of care for older Australians. However, achieving these targets will require a proactive approach to workforce management, service delivery, and compliance.
By partnering with Acredia, aged care providers can confidently meet the new care minute requirements while improving the overall efficiency and quality of care. Acredia’s tools are designed to streamline operations, reduce administrative burdens, and ensure that residents receive the attention and care they deserve.
With Acredia’s real-time tracking, workforce planning tools, and Care Direct app, you can ensure compliance with care minute targets while delivering exceptional care to your residents. Contact us today to learn how Acredia can support your facility in meeting these critical targets and preparing for the future of aged care.
