Janet Anderson to head quality and safety regulator for three more years

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson has been reappointed for three more years, with the aged care services minister Richard Colbeck praising her “extraordinary leadership” during Covid-19.

“I congratulate and thank Ms Anderson for her leadership of the Commission over a period of major change that included new quality standards, additional functions and powers, sustained public scrutiny from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, and a challenging operating environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Senator Colbeck said.

Ms Anderson would play a critical role in the government’s sweeping overhaul of the aged care system, the minister said, with a strengthened role in enhancing the safety and quality of aged care.

Ms Anderson has previously come under pressure over the effectiveness of the safety regulator and its role in ensuring quality aged care.

She has been forced to defend ACQSA at the Aged Care Royal Commission and before a parliamentary committees against accusations of it being a “toothless tiger” and has faced criticism in the media from its response during the Covid pandemic.

Last December she admitted before a coronial inquiry that the commission had “missed an opportunity” in relation to an outbreak of covid at an aged care facility in Melbourne.

In a statement earlier this week Ms Anderson said as the Covid-19 pandemic continued, the commission was constantly reassessing its regulatory response to ensure it remained fit for purpose and was closely monitoring providers to hold them to account for the delivery of safe, quality aged care during the Omicron wave.

Ms Anderson has a long background as a senior public servant and was awarded a public service medal in 2009 for outstanding health policy development and reform.

She has previously held the roles of Deputy CEO in the Northern Territory Department of Health, First Assistant Secretary of the Health Services division in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Director of Inter-Government and Funding Strategies in the NSW health department.

She began as inaugural Safety and Quality Commissioner in 2019.