New figures reveal how Canberra's aged care homes stack up

An average of 12 per cent of residents across ACT homes are reporting unplanned weight loss and roughly 25 per cent have been subjected to physical restraint.

ACT independent senator David Pocock has crunched the numbers from the federal government's new star rating system to assess whether Canberra's residential age care homes are up to scratch.

Senator Pocock said the data showed that despite the damning findings of the aged care royal commission and the Albanese government's initial steps to fix the sector, too many older Canberrans were still receiving a "seriously substandard level of care".

"This simply isn't good enough," he told The Canberra Times.

The crossbencher is pushing for a rethink of the star rating system, questioning how a nursing home that fails to meet care minute targets and has potentially malnourished residents can be judged as "acceptable".

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said the figures showed there was significant work ahead to reform the sector and "clean up the mess" the Coalition had left after nine years in office.

"You can't improve what you can't measure, and star ratings were designed to highlight issues providers must improve," she said.

The star rating system, which went live last month, allows the public to assess the performance of nursing homes nationwide.

Nursing homes receive an overall rating between one and five stars, which is measured against four sub-categories: compliance, residents' experience, staffing and quality measures.

The transparency tool was a recommendation from the aged care royal commission, which said it was "critical" that the public had access to such information.

Of the 23 Canberra homes listed on the federal government's My Aged Care website, 16 have an overall rating of "acceptable" (three stars) and seven were considered "good" (four stars).

Senator Pocock's deep dive into the star rating data reveals homes are falling short on a number of measures.

Nine of the homes are not meeting requirements for total minutes of care provided to residents, with more than half missing targets for minutes of care from a registered nurse.

Targets differ across homes depending on the needs of residents, but equate to a national average of 200 minutes per day of personal care, including 40 minutes from a registered nurse.

Those targets will be mandated from October 1 and will rise to 215 minutes, including 44 minutes from a registered nurse, the following year under changes designed to raised the standard of the troubled sector.

The government will also require homes have a registered nurses available 24/7 from July 1 this year.

The fact that homes are struggling to meet the existing targets suggest providers are stretched beyond capacity, casting doubts over whether they will be able to achieve the tougher requirements.

The government has committed an extra $5.4 billion over four years to help providers meet the new care targets.

"Having met with many nurses and personal care workers over the past six months, I know workers are stretched and this data clearly shows we need more people in facilities to help care for the personal and clinical needs of our older Canberrans," Senator Pocock said.

The star system measures quality of care, which takes into account the percentage of residents who had injuries, unplanned weight loss, were subject to physical restraint or on medication management.

According Senator Pocock's analysis, an average of one in four residents across all of the facilities had been subject to physical restraints.

Every single resident at three facilities had been restrained at some point during the reporting period, while five homes reported no instances of the practice.

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The federal health department advises that restraints, which can include using mechanical devices or confining a resident to a certain area, should be a last report to protect their safety.

According to the analysis, an average of 12 per cent of residents across the homes reported unplanned weight loss.

Unplanned weight loss occurs when a person doesn't eat enough food, putting them at increased risks of injuries such as hip fractures.

It can occur to people with dementia, swallowing difficulties or poor dental health, but can also be a sign of malnutrition.

Senator Pocock wants the government to reconsider the use of weight loss as a measure of nutrition, saying: "If you eat party pies for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you may not lose weight but you won't get the right nutrition".

He has serious concerns about the star rating system more generally.

"Digging into the data, it's clear the star rating system already needs a clean-up," he said.

"It raises serious questions that facilities in which one in five residents are potentially malnourished can still score a three out of five stars."

Asked if the government would consider changes to the star ratings, a federal health department spokesman said the system was designed to improve as new data came through and aged care standards lifted.

The spokesman pointed to a number of steps the government was taking to boost the size and skills of the aged care workforce, including supporting a pay rise for workers.

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