Assessing your application

Page content: Assessment of "fit & proper" & "financial capacity" | Section 71 | Section 70

When assessing applications for registration, transfer and variation, the Department of Health (DoH) will consider:

• Whether you are a 'fit and proper' person - have the skills, knowledge and understanding required.
• The premises - the site and design.
• Your business plan - business objectives, market analysis, financial capacity, management and staffing structure.
• Your understanding of the Act and Regulations and answers to practical and problem solving questions at an interview with departmental officers.

Assessment of "fit & proper" & "financial capacity"

The Mission Statement of DoH, which is responsible for, among other areas, the regulation of many of Victoria's aged care facilities and services, is 'to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Victorians, emphasising vulnerable groups and those most in need' .

Responsibility for the regulation of Supported Residential Services (SRS) falls to the Aged Care Branch of the Rural & Regional Health and Aged Care Services Division.

In our role as regulator of the SRS industry under the Health Services Act 1988, DoH is required to assess whether you, as potential proprietors, are "fit & proper" and likely to have, or will continue to have, the "financial capacity" to carry on the establishment. In order to carry out this role effectively, we need to ask many questions of you and so we have developed guidelines to assist you in preparing your application.

The role of the proprietor(s) of an SRS is vital to ensuring the health and well being of the residents, many of whom are part of a particularly vulnerable group of our society; the aged and those with a disability.

The department's role in assessing proprietor(s) who are fit and proper is equally important. We want to make sure you have appropriate skills to perform your obligations as proprietor(s) in delivering suitable standards of care and that you have the proper financial resources and support to ensure this care can be provided. An SRS that fails because of poor management or lack of financial resources has widespread ramifications for residents, families and you as proprietor(s).

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The guidelines we have provided have been developed with these considerations in mind. They ask the questions that need to be asked and for documents that need to be produced to satisfy the Department that you, as proprietor(s), will be able to operate effectively in the premises you have chosen for the SRS.

Please complete your application and provide the documentation as laid out in the guidelines and assessment of your application will be a much speedier process. If you have any questions regarding the information we are seeking, please feel free to contact the Senior Registration Officer on (61 3) 9096 6930.

The information shown over the page relates to the relevant parts of the Act covering "fit & proper" and financial capacity.

As at the date of the Guidelines for Completing an Application for Approval In Principle for a Supported Residential Service, the relevant parts of the Health Services Act 1988 (the Act) that deal with the Secretary's powers and obligations to assess 'fit & proper' and financial capacity include:

• For an Approval In Principle
  • Section 71(2)
  • Section 70(4)
    
    
• For Variation or Transfer of certificate of Approval in Principle
  • Section 74(2)
    
    
• For Registration
  • Section 82(3)
  • Section 83(1)(c)
  • Section 83(1)(d)
    
    
• For Renewal of Registration
  • Section 89(b)
  • Section 89(c)
    
    
• For Variation of Registration
  • Section 93(1)
    
    

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The following quotes the Act in regard to 'fit & proper' and financial capacity for an Approval In Principle. The other sections above contain similar provisions or refer to these sections.

Section 71

• The Secretary must not grant approval in principle for the use of land or premises as a health service establishment or for the variation of the registration of a health service establishment if the Secretary considers that the person who is or is likely to be the proprietor of the establishment or, if the person is a body corporate, any director or other officer of the body corporate who exercises or may exercise control over the establishment-
• is not a fit and proper person to be such a proprietor, or to be a proprietor of the establishment if the registration is varied, or to exercise such control; or
• is not likely to have, or to continue to have, the financial capacity to carry on the establishment, or to carry on the establishment if the registration is varied.

Section 70

• An applicant for approval in principle must give the Secretary any further information relating to the application that the Secretary requests including information about any proposed proprietor of and, if the proposed proprietor is a body corporate, any director or officer of the body corporate who may exercise control over the health service establishment to which the application relates.

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