Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

NATIONAL HEALTH ACT 1953 - SECT 4AA

             (1)  For the purposes of this Act, a day is a recognized day of absence of a qualified nursing home patient from an approved nursing home if:

                     (a)  the patient is absent from the nursing home on the day pursuant to an agreement made under subsection (2); and

                     (b)  the day is, for the purposes of this section, an eligible day in relation to the patient.

             (2)  For the purposes of this Act, a qualified nursing home patient, or a Repatriation nursing home patient, of an approved nursing home, or a person acting on behalf of such a patient, and the proprietor of the nursing home may enter into an agreement, in accordance with the appropriate common form of agreement authorized under subsection (3), with respect to the absence of the patient from the nursing home.

             (3)  The relevant Minister may, by writing, authorize a common form of agreement with respect to the absence of a qualified nursing home patient or a Repatriation nursing home patient, as the case requires, from an approved nursing home.

             (4)  A common form of agreement shall make provision for and in relation to such matters as the relevant Minister considers appropriate.

             (5)  Without limiting the generality of subsection (4), a common form of agreement authorized under subsection (3) with respect to the absence of a qualified nursing home patient or a Repatriation nursing home patient from an approved nursing home may make provision for and in relation to:

                     (a)  notices to be given by, or on behalf of, the patient to the proprietor of the nursing home in relation to the absence of the patient;

                     (b)  requiring the proprietor of the nursing home, upon the return of the patient in circumstances of a kind specified in the agreement, to allow the patient to occupy the same bed that the patient occupied immediately before the absence of the patient;

                     (c)  deeming the patient, for the purposes of this Act, to have been discharged from the nursing home in circumstances of a kind specified in the agreement;

                     (d)  except in the case of a Government nursing home, the fees or extra charges (in this section referred to as the bed retention fees ) that may be charged in respect of the absence, or retention of the bed, of the patient;

                     (e)  the deduction of Commonwealth benefit within the meaning of Part VA and other amounts from the bed retention fees; and

                      (f)  in the case of a transferred home that does not contain exempt beds, limiting bed retention fees to an amount not exceeding the amount applicable for the purpose of subparagraph 47(2)(b)(iii).

          (5A)  For the purposes of this section:

                     (a)  a qualified nursing home patient shall be taken to be absent from an approved nursing home on the day on which the patient leaves the nursing home to commence an absence from the nursing home pursuant to an agreement made under subsection (2); and

                     (b)  a qualified nursing home patient shall not be taken to be absent from an approved nursing home on the day on which the patient returns to the nursing home after an absence from the nursing home pursuant to an agreement made under subsection (2) or, if the patient dies while he or she is absent from the nursing home pursuant to such an agreement, on the day on which he or she dies.

             (6)  For the purposes of this section, a day in a relevant period is an eligible day in relation to a qualified nursing home patient of an approved nursing home if, on that day, the patient is absent from the nursing home and:

                     (a)  that absence is due to the fact that the patient has to be, is, or has been, in attendance at a hospital for the purpose of receiving hospital treatment; or

                     (b)  where paragraph (a) does not apply:

                              (i)  if the relevant period is the year commencing on 1 July 1989--the number of recognised days of absence of the patient from the approved nursing home or another approved nursing home before that day during the relevant period is less than 28; or

                             (ii)  in any subsequent relevant period--the number of recognised days of absence of the patient from the approved nursing home or another approved nursing home before that day during the relevant period (excluding any day that is a recognised day because paragraph (a) applies) is less than 28.

          (6A)  For the purposes of the application of paragraph (6)(b) in relation to a day of absence during a relevant period, any days to which section 46AB has applied in relation to the patient in question during the relevant period are to be treated as recognised days of absence of the patient (whether or not the patient was, during any of those days, in attendance at a hospital for the purpose of receiving hospital treatment).

             (7)  In this section, relevant period , in relation to a qualified nursing home patient, means the year commencing on 1 July 1985 and each subsequent year.

             (9)  For the purposes of sections 46A, 47, 48, 48A, 49, 59 and 60A:

                     (a)  a qualified nursing home patient shall be deemed to be receiving nursing home care in an approved nursing home and to be an approved nursing home patient in the nursing home on each recognized day of absence of the patient from the nursing home; and

                     (b)  a reference (other than a reference in subsection 47(2)) to the fees charged in respect of nursing home care of the patient on such a day is a reference to the bed retention fees charged in respect of the patient for that day.

           (10)  Where a qualified nursing home patient or a Repatriation nursing home patient dies while absent from an approved nursing home pursuant to an agreement under subsection (2):

                     (a)  the definition of short‑term respite care patient in subsection 4(1), this section and subsections 40AA(6) and 40AB(5A) have effect as if the patient:

                              (i)  had been absent on each day (if any) after the death of the patient and before the day next following the day on which the proprietor was informed of the death of the patient; and

                             (ii) had died at the end of the last of the days first referred to in subparagraph (i); and

                     (b)  if the proprietor of the nursing home is not informed of the death within the period of 48 hours after the death, the proprietor shall be taken, for the purposes of paragraph (a), to have been so informed at the end of the period of 48 hours after the death of the patient.

           (11)  A reference in subsection (3) or (4) to the relevant Minister is a reference to:

                     (a)  in a case where the subsection applies in relation to a common form of agreement with respect to the absence of a qualified nursing home patient from an approved nursing home--the Minister administering this Act; or

                     (b)  in a case where the subsection applies in relation to a common form of agreement with respect to the absence of a Repatriation nursing home patient from an approved nursing home--the Minister administering the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 .