Temporary Employment Register - Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) - Senior SIRS Assessors

APS5

Full-time, Non-Ongoing

Surry Hills and Parramatta - NSW, Melbourne - VIC, Canberra - ACT, Brisbane - QLD, Hobart - TAS, Adelaide - SA, Darwin - NT, Perth - WA. 

About our Team

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission) offers interesting and challenging work, focused on improving the lives of older people. As the single independent regulator of Australian Government-funded aged care services, the Commission plays a central role in maintaining the integrity of the aged care system.

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)  is an initiative to help prevent and reduce the risk and occurrence of incidents of abuse and neglect of older Australians receiving Commonwealth-subsidised aged care and services. It commenced in residential aged care on 1 April 2021 and was extended to home services on 1 December 2022. 

The SIRS has 2 key components: 

• incident management responsibilities 
• reportable incident obligations. 

The 8 types of reportable incidents that must be reported to the Commission include: 

• Unreasonable use of force 
• Unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct 
• Psychological or emotional abuse 
• Stealing or financial coercion by a staff member 
• Neglect 
• Inappropriate use of restrictive practices • Unexplained absence from care / missing consumers
• Unexpected death. 

The aim of SIRS is to:

• build the capability of providers to prevent or reduce the occurrence of serious incidents and improve quality and safety 
• require providers to review incident information to drive improvements in quality and safety 
• enable the Commission to better detect, triage and respond to risk across all its functions by utilising SIRS notifications alongside the range of intelligence held by the Commission.

 SIRS Team delivers on the aim by: 

• assessing the actual or potential risk to the safety, health, wellbeing and quality of life of a consumer and provider capacity and capability to address the risk. 
• acting in a timely, proportionate and coordinated manner if a provider is not demonstrating capability 
• educating providers using the intelligence gathered from notifications. 
• ensuring notifications are recorded accurately into the business systems to produce meaningful intelligence. 

 For more information on the SIRA program go to www.agedcarequality.gov.au/sirs

What you'll do

• Work independently and providing guidance to assess sensitive and at times confronting information as to the risk to the consumer within prescribed timeframes 
• Searching and analysing the Commission’s business systems to conduct quality risk assessments with an informed decision about the trust in the provider and potential trends 
• Communicating with aged care providers if further information is required to inform an assessment by phone or in writing 
• Exercising judgement to make decisions governed by the application of rules, regulations, best practice principles or the agency's operating instructions and procedures 
• Under limited supervision perform objective and systematic research and analysis to obtain accurate conclusions based on evidence 
• Documenting, in an accurate and timely manner, assessments and information received in respect to a notification 
• Interpret legislation, policy, procedures, and guidelines to prepare complex matters for escalation to other areas of the Commission for further action 
• Build and sustain relationships; liaises with a range of internal and external stakeholders 
• Contribute to the priorities of the team and effectively manage your workload 
• Have accountability for tasks and decisions and supports colleagues in achieving their goals through the provision of guidance and quality assurance 
• Commitment to agreed productivity goals 
• Attend, and participate in, team meetings or training when required

What skills and capability we are looking for: 

• Ability to analyse and draw accurate conclusions based on available information using guidelines and other job aids 
• Demonstrated ability to take personal responsibility for accurate completion of work that adheres to guidelines and other procedures 
• Commitment, energy, and drive to see goals are achieved 
• The ability to learn and build proficiency across different IT systems 
• Ability to remain positive and respond to work pressure in a calm manner 
• Willingness to seek and act on feedback 
• Demonstrated good communication skills including, preparing reports and briefings. 
• Demonstrated capability in making regulatory decisions.

Other considerations when applying:

• Capacity to travel, as you may be leading team members in other sites, however where possible we will look to match Team Leaders with localised teams
• Willingness be flexible with your working hours if you lead team members in varying time zones. 
• Willingness to meet vaccination requirements to perform regulatory activities that require. vaccination such as, entry to a residential aged care service 

About the Temporary Employment Register

We have exciting employment opportunities for the right people to register for our Temporary Employment Register (TER). The TER assists the Commission to access appropriately skilled and experienced individuals for temporary positions (up to a possible maximum period of 2 years) and is open for candidates to register an interest in temporary employment as Senior SIRS Assessors. 

Candidates should be aware this is a register only and that you will only be contacted regarding your application if a vacancy arises that matches your skills, qualifications and/or experience. 

Employment at the Commission offers generous employment conditions and career pathways both internally and externally, supported through our commitment to the development of staff capabilities that are sought after by other public sector regulators.

Position Notes 

Salary offered will be between $79,854 and $86,359 per annum depending on skills and experience. In addition, 15.4% superannuation will be paid.

Non-ongoing opportunity will be offered for a fixed term. Opportunities will be offered for varying periods up to 12 months with a possibility of extension to a maximum of two years.

Eligibility

Only candidates who hold Australian citizenship can apply. Appointment is conditional on successfully completing a national police check. For more information please visit www.apsc.gov.au/citizenship-aps 

Provide a 600-word pitch setting out why you want the role and your skills and capabilities along with a brief resume

Contact Officer

Please contact our recruitment team on (02) 9633 3262 or recruitment@agedcarequality.gov.au for assistance with accessing our website or with lodging your application. For further information, please contact Giovanna Stonehouse, Assistant Director, on 03 9100 7018 or via email at Giovanna.Stonehouse@agedcarequality.gov.au. 

Diversity and Inclusion

The diversity of our staff is very important to us. We welcome and actively encourage applications from all Australian citizens to achieve a workforce that reflects our community. 

The Commission recognises the richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and the unique knowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees bring to our workplace, policy development and service delivery. We welcome and actively encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in line with our commitments in our Reconciliation Action Plan. 

Further information

For further information about the Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission, office locations and other related resources, please visit https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au 

For more information on the Australian Public Service, please visit http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/cracking-the-code/factsheet-4 and http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/cracking-the-code.