Police check renewals due for aged care workers
It’s now nearly three years since the introduction of Federal aged care legislation requiring compulsory police checks for aged care workers and volunteers, so many staff will now be due for a new check.
The Office of Aged Care Quality and Compliance has issued several notices dealing with non-compliance issues relating to mandatory police checks of staff over the past year.
From January 2009, amendments to the Accountability Principles 1998 came into effect to extend police checks to all staff and contractors who have access to care recipients, regardless of whether they are supervised or unsupervised, which must be renewed every three years.
In addition, volunteers who have unsupervised access to care recipients must also have a national criminal history record check. These arrangements also apply to the Australian Government’s National Respite for Carers Program.
Historically, most aged care providers have relied on their local police or the AFP to provide this service but thankfully there are now much faster alternatives.
Risk Group Services for example, provides direct online access to the national database via their website at http://www.policecheck.com.au
“Our system provides real time access with clearances returned in a matter of seconds. This compares to police processing times that can range from a few days to many weeks depending on the jurisdictions involved,” company director, Stephen Frost says.
“We’ve built this system with aged care in mind, giving users desktop access to the data they need to make rapid, reliable and informed hiring decisions.”
Policecheck, a criminal records service under Risk Group Services, can provide a cost effective and compliant solution, especially when large batches of checks need to be processed.
“Our systems and procedures provide you with low cost, timely and accurate information in a simple interface that represents world’s best practice,” said Mr Frost.
Risk Group Services is an independent and government accredited information broker whose principals have over 50 years of combined experience in law enforcement, private investigations and security risk management.
