The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was widely acknowledged as a way of ensuring that senior Australians are treated with respect, care and dignity and have access to quality care as they age.
The Final Report was issued and creates a clear roadmap to better care through significant reforms for care and facilities, through 5 pillars:
Home Care,
Residential aged care quality and safety,
Residential aged care services and sustainability,
Workforce, and
Governance.
Changes to the Retirement Villages Act
Earlier in the year following the interim report, the NSW Government has made Policy changes to the Retirement Villages Act to include the requirement for Asset Management Plans for facilities. To help organisations understand their obligations and how to meet them, we’ve created this quick Q&A.
Please note that this Q&A includes the updated changes to the Retirement Villages Act in May 2021.
Q: What are the requirements?
A: The requirements include:
Creation of an Asset Management Plan (AMP) with a 10-year planning horizon
The AMP must include content on:
a. An asset register
b. A maintenance schedule
A 3-year plan estimating capital maintenance and replacement costs
Obligations of operators and the rights of residents in relation to the preparation and revision of asset management plans
Q: Why are Asset Management Plans important?
A: Asset Management Plans (AMP) document how organisations manage their assets and to achieve their objectives. A well implemented and managed AMP helps you to understand the investment you require to optimise cost, risk and performance of your assets across the entire life cycle.
Understanding this information guides investment strategies to ensure the assets meet their desired levels of service
Q: What do I need to create an Asset Management Plan?
A: To create your Asset Management Plan, you will first need an inventory of your assets. This is called an Asset Register that will contain specific information about the assets that are either owned or under your control.
It will also contain information of the asset’s condition to be able to confidently predicts it remaining useful life, replacement costs and the optimal timing to either maintain, renew or replace the assets.
Q: What does an Asset Register include?
A: An Asset Register will have all the information about your assets, such as:
What assets you have, and where they are located
When you bought them and at what value
The condition of the assets and its remaining useful life
Q: Can I use data I already have, such as a Works Management Tool?
A: Yes!
This data can certainly be used as a starting point for your Asset Register to be compliance under the changes to the Retirement Villages Act.
If the data is unreliable (missing data or it hasn’t been kept up to date), we can help you identify the gaps in the data. We can then help you acquire the missing data
If there is missing data, you will need to acquire the missing information through a data collection process.
Remember, the better your data, the easier it is to produce your Asset Management Plan!
Q: What else do I need to do?
A: Once you have a valid Asset Register and an Asset Management Plan, you will be in a better position to make informed investment decisions based on whole-of-life costs of the assets. You will have an understanding of the current and future demands of the assets to meet your required service levels and regulatory obligations.
Q: How long do I have?
A: The NSW Government has mandated that all eligible facilities need to have an Asset Management Plan by July 1st 2022.
Q: What does AssetFuture do?
A: AssetFuture can help you through all steps in this process, in your journey to compliance for all your facilities.
With AssetFuture, you will be able to store your Asset Register, update it easily through online and offline mobile applications, as well as create your maintenance and replacement plan. AssetFuture will then create your Asset Management Plan for you to be compliant with the recent changes in the Act.
Your Asset Management Plan will be available for visitors and residents, and any changes to the condition your assets will be reflected in the plan.
Q: What do I do now?
A: Get in touch!
We create Asset Registers and Asset Management Plans for organisations in the Retirement, Aged Care and Government sectors every day. We are experienced in creating compliant plans and keeping them accurate and up to date. We give you the capability to keep your assets up to date yourself through easy to use mobile applications, or we can do this for you if you prefer.
Find out more about how to get your Asset Management Plan and the scope requirements here: