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This course has been developed to provide learners with an understanding of the scope and purpose of the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standard 4: The Environment, and is aimed at leaders, managers, and other staff members responsible for delivering care and services to older people.
Let me take you back for a moment - picture this. It’s 2018, and the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has just been announced. There are reports of neglect, substandard care, and heartbreaking stories from residents and families. The system, which was meant to protect and care for our most vulnerable, was failing. And the Commission’s findings were stark: the aged care sector needed a complete overhaul.
Fast forward to today - things are changing. The Australian Government has introduced the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards in response to those findings. These new Standards are more than just regulations; they’re about improving the culture of care. They’re designed to shift the focus toward person-centred care - where the dignity, safety, and well-being of every older person are the priority.
From 1 July 2025, new Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards will take effect, setting a higher benchmark for the care and services provided to older Australians. These updated Standards reflect the community’s expectations for safe, respectful, and high-quality aged care. Providers of Commonwealth-funded aged care services will be required to meet these Strengthened Standards and demonstrate their compliance through regular assessments by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. The focus remains on delivering positive outcomes for consumers, ensuring their dignity, choice, and wellbeing are at the heart of every service.
The new Quality Standards cover key areas essential to quality care: Consumer dignity and choice, ongoing assessment and planning, personal and clinical care, services and supports for daily living, the service environment, feedback and complaints, human resources, and organisational governance. Each Standard outlines clear expectations for providers and sets measurable outcomes for consumers, giving older Australians and their families confidence in the care they receive. These strengthened standards aim to create a more transparent, responsive, and person-centred aged care system.
Standard 4 is focused on the environment used to deliver care and services to older people including the residential aged care environment and the older person’s own home.
Standard 4 is intended to apply to registration categories 4, 5 and 6 service types.
But here’s the thing - it’s not enough to have new Standards on paper. For real change to happen, care workers need to understand why these Standards matter and how they apply in day-to-day care. That’s where education comes in.
Our new courses on the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards are designed to equip care workers with the knowledge and skills to meet these new expectations. They’ll learn how to provide care that is not only clinically sound but also respectful, compassionate, and culturally appropriate. It’s about helping care workers feel confident - not just to comply with the rules, but to build a culture of care that values every individual they support.
Education isn’t just about ticking boxes for compliance - it’s about changing mindsets and behaviours. When care workers understand the why behind the Standards, they can create environments where older people feel safe, respected, and truly cared for.
Standard 4 is the environment. This covers environmental aspects of care and services and describes requirements relating to the physical environment in which care is delivered.
This includes:
Standard 4 focuses on ensuring that the environment in which funded aged care services are delivered is safe, comfortable, and supports the well-being of older people. It sets out what older people can expect regarding the physical spaces and equipment used in their care, whether in a home care setting or a residential aged care facility.
The physical environment plays a crucial role in the overall quality of life and safety of people receiving aged care. A well-designed, clean, and maintained environment helps to prevent accidents, promote independence, and ensure the dignity of older people. It also includes a strong focus on risk identification and management and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to protect older people and staff from potential health risks.
Standard 4 outlines the responsibilities of registered providers to create and maintain environments that meet these Standards. This includes ensuring that equipment is safe, appropriate, and properly maintained, and that infection control measures are in place and effective.
This course covers the purpose and scope of Standard 4, including:
This course contains a range of contextualisation options to suit your learners. Upon beginning the course, learners are prompted to select the provider registration category in which they work from the following, which will tailor the content to suit the relevant learning outcomes.
If learners work across both home care and residential care settings, they can select both options.
