AGED care at home is growing at 13 per cent per annum in Australia, far more quickly than residential aged care, a new discussion paper from the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency says.
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However "variable levels of compliance against the standards currently exist" in the home care sector.
Meanwhile while compliance with accreditation standards is high in residential aged care, the system is based on minimum standards rather than optimum performance.
Questions have also been raised about operators who retain accreditation and continue operating despite failing to meet standards, and about the need for more unannounced visits from inspectors.
The government is currently reviewing compliance standards and has committed to reducing red tape for the sector and working towards private market provision of accreditation standards.
"Quality in aged care services has historically been focused on preventing poor care and ensuring safety," the report says.
However it asks people to consider how to ensure aged care residents have the freedom to make more choices, take risks and retain autonomy over their lives.
The paper is part of a public consultation in which people are being asked to have their say on quality in aged care and how new standards should be decided for both home care and residential care.
"When people lose the ability to have choice over their lives it makes them unhappy and can make them sick," it says.
"It can make people more dependent rather than more resourceful, and more at risk of distress.
"We are seeing a shift in the perceptions of quality of care based on compliance with minimum standards to a more sophisticated definition of quality to ensure the expectations of older Australians are met or exceeded."
The report suggests a common language is needed to describe quality of care across the residential care and home care sectors.
Australian Aged Care Quality Agency chief executive Nick Ryan said consumers, providers, aged care workers and academics were all urged to provide feedback either online or at forums which will be held in Brisbane, Parramatta and Adelaide during September.
The information will be presented to the Department of Social Services at the end of September to inform the current review of standards, and will be published on the agency's website by the end of November.
The agency will accept feedback online until the end of October.
