The principles and guidelines presented in this document have been developed to support the Australian Government’s new Residential Aged Care Accommodation Framework.

The Centre for Health Service Development, at the University of Wollongong, was commissioned by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to undertake this analysis of international and national staffing profiles for residential aged care services, in order to better understand how staffing can be improved in Australia.

Australia has recently implemented an activity - based funding system for public hospitals. Policymakers and providers are keen to ensure that the price paid for health care services stimulates improvements in quality and safety , but some remain scept ical that this can be achieved through pricing mechanisms.