Draft retirement living standards open for feedback

The Australian Retirement Village Accreditation Scheme (ARVAS) draft standards are now open for feedback following an extensive industry-led process to develop a new, independently audited benchmark for assessing the quality and consistency of services and support provided for retirement village residents.

Property Council of Australia’s Executive Director – Retirement Living Ben Myers says the draft standards have been designed to be a practical and relevant tool for retirement village operators who want to demonstrate a real commitment to operating their villages in a high quality and consistent way.

“The draft ARVAS standards have been broken up into seven quality areas,” Mr Myers says.

“From the operator’s ability to manage the community and induct staff and volunteers, to a resident’s ability to provide feedback on the running of the community, and to general safety and security, the ARVAS standards cover it all.

“Importantly, the standards directly reference the new Retirement Living Code of Conduct, which is the first step in the sector’s new quality framework.”

Peak body for aged and retirement living providers Leading Aged Services Australia Chief Executive Officer Sean Rooney says care and personal services have been included in the retirement living sector’s accreditation standards for the first time.

“With more retirement villages either providing or facilitating the delivery of care-related services, it made sense to ensure our accreditation scheme reflected this evolution in the retirement living sector,” he says.

“A diverse and experienced group of industry professionals have consulted extensively on the development of these new standards, and we encourage the entire industry to contribute their thoughts so the scheme can be as effective as possible.”

The draft ARVAS standards can be downloaded here.

Stakeholders are encouraged to provide their feedback to the Property Council (retirementliving@propertycouncil.com.au) or LASA (retirementliving@lasa.asn.au) no later than Friday 12 April 2019.