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The Retirement Living ‘Code of Conduct’ turns one, plus a useful tool to help your village stay compliant in 2021

The Retirement Living Code of Conduct celebrated its first birthday last week. 

The new code for retirement villages was developed by the Property Council and LASA to give customers confidence in village management and operations.

Ben Myers from the Property Council said they’ve been thrilled to see almost 50 per cent of retirement villages participate and sign on.

This is despite obvious external pressure from COVID.

You’ve got to say it’s a real win for the sector.

“This year we will be increasing awareness of the Code to grow the number of subscribers,” Ben says.

“We have set an ambitious target of 75 per cent take up in the industry. This would seriously demonstrate the industry’s commitment to residents and to robust self-regulation.”

We here at the DCM Institute strongly support the Code of Conduct industry framework, and believe it supports best practice village operation, staff retention and resident satisfaction.

This is why we’ve provided plenty of info in our village manager professional development program to supply knowledge, guidance and resources to fast-track compliance with the code.

Keep an eye out for a new tool to be released in our 2021 program.

The Code of Conduct Gap Analysis tool can be used in conjunction with the Code Implementation plan. These resources help operators progress in their compliance of the code in2021.

You can find out more about our professional development program, and how it will help keep your village compliant here.

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Latest industry developments

ARVAS is building – and more assessors are needed

ARVAS – the exclusive accreditation scheme for retirement village and seniors housing operators – has a large number of villages registering to undertake accreditation.

It’s a single, unified scheme for the industry, developed following extensive consultation with resident groups, retirement community operators and the general public.

The idea behind accreditation is to continuously improve outcomes for our senior community. It is strongly based on the concept of creating a positive community that’s focused on sustaining a high standard of living for residents.

ARVAS was developed and is co-owned by Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) and the Property Council.

ARVAS also fits in the Retirement Living Code of Conduct, which came into full effect from January this year.

More ARVAS Assessors needed to fill the gap

With the increase in interest in ARVAS, QIP is also looking for more assessors to join their team.

Being a QIP Assessor is a unique opportunity to see new ideas and innovative solutions, and to offer mentorship by showing villages how to transform with sustainable change.

Being trained as an assessor to accredit retirement villages and communities against an industry set of standards (ARVAS) is a unique opportunity to support village management, staff and most importantly residents.

Auditing the safety and quality of services involves conducting interviews and observing the village’s processes and procedures and considering whether these can be enhanced.

Improvement opportunities and recommendations can be offered by the assessment teams as part of the accreditation report provided to the organisation.

A commitment to assessing can easily fit in with your current professional and personal life.

Assessors are required to complete a minimum number of two assessments per year and there’s no requirement to ‘give up’ your current role.

QIP’s portal allows self-nomination for upcoming assessments to suit both your availability and travel preferences of staying more local or opting to go further afield. Travel, meals and incidental costs incurred as part of an assessment are covered AND you get paid for your time!

To express interest please email the QIP team directly at workforcemanagement@agpal.com.au or via the QIP website.

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Reporting Results

New South Wales operators have 26 Days to be Rules of Conduct compliant

This week the DCM Institute distributed and mailed out to Village Managers across NSW a guide that will assist them prepare for compliance with the new NSW Rules of Conduct regulations.

These new regulations highlight areas previously not found in legislation across the country. Check out this list – just part of the new required code:

  1. The need for operators and their staff to maintain their legislative knowledge
  2. Operators must have regard to the best interests of residents
  3. Operators must exercise skill, care and diligence
  4. Operators must act with honesty, fairness and professionalism
  5. Operators must not disclose private and confidential information about residents or prospective residents
  6. Operators must have an elder abuse strategy
  7. Operators must provide information to external selling agents
  8. Operators must not make false or misleading representations
  9. Operators have new guidelines for marketing requirements
  10. Operators must disclose any conflict of interests and maintain a register
  11. Operators must have a robust complaints and internal dispute handling process, register and staff must be trained in these processes
  12. Operators must maintain policy, procedure and registers for Village professionals ongoing professional development
  13. Operators must monitor staff compliance with policy and procedure 

During the month we have received a number of enquiries asking the difference between The Rules of Conduct and Code of Conduct.  Put simply if you are operating in NSW you must comply with all areas of the Rules of Conduct by 1 January 2020 as it is a Regulation.

You can download a copy HERE. 

Where as the Code of Conduct is a voluntary industry framework that helps create the benchmark for Retirement Living operational standards and whilst this too comes into effect 1 January 2020 you are able to sign up at any point once you have completed the self assessment.

Click here to view our Compliance guide, developed by DCM Institute, to assist operators meet their requirements.Download Rules of ConductDownload DCMI Compliance Guide