What is the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)?

Everyone deserves safe, high-quality care. The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) is a federal government initiative that commenced in April 2021, to reduce the risk and occurrence of abuse and neglect of older Australians (ACQSC 2023).

What is the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)?

The SIRS was established following an inquiry report into elder abuse by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC). During this inquiry, the ALRC found that providers had minimal systems and responsibilities in place to address elder abuse. While providers were required to report elder abuse to the police, there was no requirement to report what actions were taken after an incident occurred. The ALRC then recommended a new SIRS that would cover a wider range of serious incidents beyond just physical and sexual abuse, and introduce a clear process for monitoring and investigating those incidents (Grove, King & Petrie 2021).

Under the SIRS, Registered Providers are required to:

• identify,
• record,
• manage,
• resolve and
• report

all serious incidents that threaten the safety, health, wellbeing and quality of life of older people, as well as take appropriate steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring again in the future. The SIRS also requires registered providers to put into practice an incident management system (DHDA 2025).

The SIRS aims to ensure that registered providers deliver safe and effective care, and that individuals are adequately supported if an incident does occur. Through the implementation of an effective incident management system, registered providers should be able to respond to incidents more appropriately, provide older people with access to support and continuously improve their services (ACQSC 2022a; DoH 2020).

The SIRS sits alongside the The Aged Care Act 2024, The Aged Care Rules 2025, Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, The Statement of Rights and the Code of Conduct for Aged Care to ensure that service providers are held responsible for managing incidents that occur in their facilities (ACQSC 2022a).

Who Does the SIRS Apply to?

The SIRS covers all registered providers delivering aged care funded services in residential care facilities and in the home, including those delivered through: :

• Residential Aged Care
• Support At Home Program
• The Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP)
• Multi-Purpose Services (MPS)
• The Transition Care Program (TCP)
• The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (NATSIFACP).

(ACQSC 2022a)

What Are Serious Incidents Reportable Under the SIRS?

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) defines a ‘serious’, reportable incident as an incident that:

• actually occurred
• is alleged to have occurred, or
• is suspected to have occurred.

(ACQSC 2022b)

There are 8 reportable incident types. Any allegation, suspicion or witness account of the following will be required to be reported to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission:

(ACQSC 2022b; ACQSC 2025c)

Note: for more in-depth information on each type of reportable incident, including differences between residential care and home care settings, see Ausmed’s Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) Training Module.

Categorising Incidents

Under the SIRS, the period of time within which to notify a reportable incident to the Commission will depend on whether the incident meets the threshold of a Priority 1 or Priority 2 reportable incident.

Priority 1 Reportable Incidents

Priority 1 reportable incidents must be reported to the Commission within 24 hours of the provider becoming aware of the incident. Registered providers are required to provide any information not available at that time to the Commission within the following 5 days.

Priority 1 incidents include:

• Incidents that have caused physical or psychological injury or discomfort to an older person that require medical or psychological treatment to resolve
• Incidents where there are reasonable grounds to contact the police
• All incidents involving unexpected death, unexplained absence during the delivery of aged care services, or unlawful/inappropriate sexual conduct.

(ACQSC 2025c)

Priority 2 Reportable Incidents

A Priority 2 reportable incident is any reportable incident that doesn't meet the criteria for a Priority 1 reportable incident, including situations where an incident, allegation, or suspicion could reasonably have been expected to have caused harm to an older person receiving aged care services.

These incidents must be reported to the Commission within 30 calendar days of becoming aware that the incident occurred (ACQSC 2025c).

Notifying the Commission

When a reportable incident occurs, a formal notification must be lodged with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission digitally via the My Aged Care service provider portal.

Depending on your organisation’s SIRS policy and incident management system, the person responsible for filing this form may change from provider to provider, however; all staff have a duty to recognise and report serious incidents as soon as they become aware of them.

A sample SIRS notification can be viewed at: https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/sites/default/files/media/sirs-notification-example-response-unreasonable-force_0.pdf

SIRS guidance states that providers should encourage a culture of accountability and ensure that staff feel confident reporting incidents to the appropriate person.

Raising concerns about a serious incident directly with management is encouraged, however, any staff member is also able to raise a concern directly to the Commission.

Reportable Incidents Involving NDIS Participants

If a reportable incident causes harm to a participant of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) or occurs during the provision of support or services by an NDIS provider, the provider is required to notify the Commission (ACQSC 2025b).

If an older person is both an aged care recipient and an NDIS participant is involved in a reportable incident under the SIRS, both the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission must be notified (ACQSC 2025b).

Note that the definition of a reportable incident, as well as required reporting timeframes and required information to be reported may differ between the SIRS and the NDIS. More information about the NDIS requirements for reportable incidents can be viewed at: https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/providers/registered-ndis-providers/reportable-incidents-0

Protections

There are also several ‘whistleblower’ protections afforded to those who report serious incidents under the Aged Care Act 2024, which have been expanded with SIRS. These include:

• Protection from retaliation or punishment as a result of coming forward
• Safeguards against potential legal consequences, whether civil, criminal, or administrative in nature
• The right to remain anonymous
• The right to have your identity and information kept confidential
• The ability to pursue compensation through legal proceedings.

(ACQSC 2025a)

However, in order to be protected under the SIRS, the following conditions must be met:

• The staff member discloses the incident to either: the registered provider, a responsible person of a registered provider, an aged care worker of the registered provider, a person who has been designated by the registered provider to receive incident reports, a police officer or the Aged Care Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and an independent aged care advocate
• The staff member provides their name before making the disclosure
• The person who has been disclosed to has ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe that a reportable incident has occurred
• The disclosure is made in good faith, i.e. the information is relayed truthfully along with any relevant context and qualifications, and there is no prejudice or malicious intent motivating the disclosure.

(ACQSC 2025a)

If someone makes a report to you, it is your responsibility to protect the discloser’s identity with some exceptions, for example, where it is necessary to share information with the ACQSC or a lawyer, or to prevent a serious threat to a person or people.

The Serious Incident Response Scheme Under the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards

Standard 2: The Organisation - Outcome 2.5: Incident management of the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (Action 2.5.1) advises registered providers to implement an incident management system to document, investigate, address and manage incidents and near misses. The incident categories included in this system should align with the SIRS (DHDA 2025).

Outcome 2.9: Human resource management (Action 2.9.6) also advises aged care workers to undertake regular competency-based training on the requirements of the SIRS (DHDA 2025).

For more information on the Serious Incident Response Scheme and any of the information mentioned in this article, visit: https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/sirs.