Aged care serious incidents (SIRS): what to notify, by when
Section 165A sends reportable incidents to the Commission: priority 1 within 24 hours of becoming aware, priority 2 within 30 days. Whether an incident is reportable, and its priority, is the provider's SIRS assessment.
s 165A and Rules 165A-15 to 165A-45
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission- to
- Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
- by when
- priority 1 within 24 hours of becoming aware; priority 2 within 30 days
- what it is
- a notice
- line key
- acsirs for the Lodged column of a list
- raised by
- Incident, Restrictive practice and Complaint received
Every registered provider must take all reasonable steps to notify reportable incidents to the Commissioner in the approved written form and ensure workers who become aware of one tell a responsible person, supervisor or designated person as soon as possible. A priority 1 incident (one causing physical or psychological injury or discomfort needing medical or psychological treatment, where there are reasonable grounds to report to police, any unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct, an unexpected death or an unexplained absence) must be notified within 24 hours of becoming aware, with the provider, incident, harm, immediate actions, police or other reports, proposed actions, notifier, time and place, persons involved and cognition level, completing missing details within 5 days; an impairment affecting a person's ability to express injury must not be treated as reducing harm. All other reportable incidents are priority 2 notices within 30 days. Significant new information must be notified as soon as reasonably practicable, and a final report given within 84 days if the Commissioner requires. The Commissioner may waive notice for repeated allegations resulting from a delusion. Failure to report is a civil penalty of 250 penalty units.
Held text: Act No. 104 of 2024, Comp. No. 2 (C2026C00301, compilation date 1 Jul 2026); the Act commenced 1 Nov 2025; Aged Care Rules 2025 Comp. No. 10 (F2026C00802).
what an auditor asks to see SIRS notification records with time aware and time notified; Priority classification decisions with reasons; Five-day follow-up and final report submissions; Worker escalation records
where it usually falls short Priority 1 incidents notified after 24 hours; Resident-on-resident incidents in dementia units under-reported; Impairment used to downgrade an incident to priority 2
Rules 164-40
police- to
- police
- by when
- within 24 hours of becoming aware of the incident or of the grounds, where there are reasonable grounds to report it
- what it is
- a notice
- line key
- acpolice for the Lodged column of a list
- raised by
- Incident
Each incident must be managed through the system by assessing and providing the support affected persons need, involving each affected person (or supporter or advocate) appropriately, and using open disclosure; where there are reasonable grounds to report to police, a police officer must be notified within 24 hours of becoming aware of the incident or of those grounds (Rules 164-40). The provider then assesses, with the affected persons' views, whether the incident was preventable, what remedial action would prevent recurrence or reduce harm, how well it was managed, how management could improve and whom else to notify, notifies those persons and bodies, takes the remedial action and takes reasonable improvement actions (164-45).
Held text: Act No. 104 of 2024, Comp. No. 2 (C2026C00301, compilation date 1 Jul 2026); the Act commenced 1 Nov 2025; Aged Care Rules 2025 Comp. No. 10 (F2026C00802).
what an auditor asks to see Incident files showing support provided and open disclosure conversations; Police notification records with timestamps; Post-incident preventability assessments and remedial action tracking
where it usually falls short Police notified days after the grounds arose; Open disclosure not documented; Remedial actions identified but not completed
Whether an incident is reportable, its priority, and whether an injury is a serious injury are your call: for aged care the Commission's SIRS decision support tool helps decide. Once you have decided, the checker runs the clock and keeps the register; the lines follow the kind you chose.
The Commission's SIRS decision support tool helps decide whether an incident is reportable, and whether it is priority 1 or 2. The checker never makes that call: every aged care incident line is a question.
The Department's Aged Care Provider Requirements Search gives a profile-based list of the conditions, obligations and duties under the Act for the registration categories and services you choose. It starts from your profile; this checker starts from a change. The Commission's own page: Notifying us of changes in circumstances.
How the clock is counted: from the date (and, for 24 hours, the time) the provider became aware, as the clause says. Business days are days that are not a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday in the place concerned (the Acts Interpretation Act definition the Rules rely on): the checker applies the public holidays of the state or territory you give, from each government's own list, and says so on the line; local and part-day holidays are not modelled, and a date past the end of the list is marked indicative. A duty with no fixed period (as soon as practicable) shows its trigger date and never a due date. A period that has ended reads "the clause's period ended on" its date, with a place to record when it was lodged.
Check one changeSee the specimen registerThe one-page sample register