When preparing for an aged care audit, many organisations focus on training completion rates - ensuring staff have completed specific training items and met minimum compliance requirements. In a recent Audit Readiness Tool webinar, we reviewed the must-have training items.
While this is important, the new audit strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, which demand far more than attendance or completion records.
The reality? More evidence items relate to education systems and processes than specific training topics. This means audits will assess how training is planned, implemented, and evaluated - not just whether it happened.
Beyond Training: What Auditors Will Look For
An audit will examine key elements that demonstrate a structured, effective training system, including:
- Policies & Processes: How does your organisation ensure training responds to risks, feedback, and performance gaps?
- Records & Documents: Do you have a training needs analysis, a clear training matrix, and competency-based education in core matters?
- Systems & Oversight: How do you track training effectiveness, ensure training records are up to date, and implement improvements?
- Key Stakeholder Feedback: Can workers, governing bodies, and individuals provide input into a process to improve training effectiveness?
Actioning These Evidence Items
To move beyond just delivering training, organisations need a best-practice cycle of Plan, Implement and Evaluate:
- Plan: Align training with strategic priorities, risk management, and workforce needs.
- Implement: Use CPD, mentoring, and leadership programs to build real capability beyond mandatory training.
- Evaluate: Assess whether training is achieving outcomes by adapting processes based on data and feedback.
This approach ensures that training is a compliance exercise and a strategic tool for workforce capability and quality improvement.
Ready to Strengthen Your Training System?
Watch the full webinar to learn how to build a robust, audit-ready training system. For a deeper dive into building an effective, audit-ready training system, read Effective Training System on the L&D Toolbox.
Register now for all of our upcoming webinars designed to help prepare you for the strengthened Standards - or come back to view past recordings.
- Get Audit-Ready for the Strengthened Standards
- Guide to Ausmed's Audit Readiness Tool
- Guide to Preparing for Your First Audit Under the New Standards
- Why Audit Readiness is a Commitment to Quality
Ensure your organisation is prepared for your first audit under the strengthened Standards.
