Training Your Aged Care Team to Speak Up

While many aged care providers already have a compliant whistleblowing policy, far fewer can point to a workplace where staff and leaders genuinely feel confident speaking up about resident safety, quality issues or workplace concerns.

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The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found that culture change requires clear training, visible leadership support and practical guidance. The new Aged Care Rules make this explicit: registered providers must now invest in and deliver practical training on speaking up, for all workers and responsible persons. 

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Training That Builds Capability, Not Just Awareness.

From 1 November 2025, training must be conducted to equip staff to speak up in real situations - at least annually and when onboarding any new worker. This marks a significant shift from previous requirements.

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With approximately 549,000 people employed across Australia's aged care sector, the scope of this training requirement is considerable. Staff must learn how to recognise protected disclosures, handle personal information and data, understand escalation pathways and appreciate the penalties for breaching confidentiality.

Training must reflect the need for practical skills using aged care-specific scenarios (generic case studies aren’t enough): medication mismanagement, resident misconduct, financial crime, infection control breaches, family complaints, staff grievances.

The ‘What, How and Who’ of Effective Training

A whistleblower complaint can be made to any aged care worker, meaning staff need to know not just that they should speak up, but how to do it effectively. That means knowing who to approach, when to escalate a concern, what language to use and which topics can be raised informally versus those needing formal channels:

• What counts as a concern worth raising - safety issues, quality gaps, resident dignity, workplace behaviour, near misses, system problems. What's expected of them professionally? What happens when they speak up?
  
  
• How to frame concerns constructively, distinguish between informal feedback and formal reporting, escalate when initial concerns aren't addressed, document issues appropriately, and support colleagues who raise concerns.
  
  
• Who to approach for different types of concerns, who the designated contact person is, and who provides external support.

With women representing 87% of the aged care workforce and the average age being 47 years, training must recognise the diverse experiences and perspectives this workforce brings.

However, frontline staff aren't the only ones who need training. Leaders also require specific capability in responding to concerns, managing their own defensive reactions, investigating fairly, closing the loop with staff, identifying patterns and escalating appropriately. Leaders who don't know how to respond well can inadvertently shut down a speak-up culture.

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Why This Matters for Your Organisation

The Royal Commission's findings were unequivocal: complaint systems in aged care were hard to access, slow to act and often left complainants in the dark. Training staff to speak up helps aged care providers build the early warning system that prevents small issues becoming serious incidents. It's what protects residents, supports staff and demonstrates to regulators that your culture matches your policies.

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Purpose-Built Whistleblowing for Aged Care

Veremark's whistleblowing solution is agile and perfect for aged care providers navigating the 2024 Rules. It includes both confidential and anonymous (if they wish) reporting channels, best practice  triage workflows and board-level reporting dashboards that demonstrate compliance while building genuine organisational trust. 

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Our speak-up training solutions include awareness guides, assessment surveys and tailored programs for improving education and understanding of whistleblowing across your workforce. This will give your staff the capability to raise concerns and the confidence that they'll be heard. Talk to us about training for your organisation, so you can meet regulatory requirements and make speaking up feel normal, not risky.

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