Choosing an aged-care nursing agency: credential & compliance checklist

A one-page checklist to test before you contract a nursing agency — so the workers on your floor are credential-ready, your evidence trail survives an audit, and coverage protects your care minutes rather than exposing them.

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Worker credentials — confirm for every person on your floor

• Current AHPRA registration for every RN and EN, with no conditions or undertakings that affect scope. Verify individually, not by assurance.
• National Police Check current and on file for each worker.
• Aged-care and NDIS worker screening as required for the roles supplied.
• Right to work and identity verified.
• Mandatory training current — manual handling, infection prevention and control, elder abuse / serious incident awareness, CPR, medication (where relevant).
• Immunisation status recorded to your facility's policy.
• Competency / scope evidence matched to the shifts they will actually work (e.g. RN acuity, wound care, medication).

Agency-level compliance — test the business, not just the worker

• Valid labour-hire licence for the relevant state/s.
• Professional indemnity and public liability insurance — current certificates of currency, adequate limits.
• Workers compensation cover for supplied workers.
• Documented clinical governance framework — who holds clinical accountability for the workers they place.
• Incident and complaints process — how issues are escalated to you, investigated and closed out.
• Credential-expiry monitoring — how they prevent an out-of-date registration or check reaching your roster.
• Continuity model — do you get named, inducted workers, or whoever is available that night?

Fit for aged-care compliance — the questions procurement forgets

• Can the agency give you weekly fill, cancellation and continuity reporting mapped to care minutes?
• Will they state realistic mobilisation times in writing, rather than promise "instant" cover?
• Do they provide an audit-ready evidence pack for every worker on demand?
• Is there a named clinical contact and after-hours escalation for your facility?
• Does the model reduce your avoidable agency use over time, or depend on it continuing?

Carehaven — controlled aged-care coverage, not a shift broker.
Credential-ready local pods across Melbourne's north → Greater Bendigo · Named contact: Carehaven Clinical Intake · Workforce team: 1300 310 605 · Due-diligence pack: admin@carehaven.com.au

Testing a supplier — or replacing an unreliable one?

Book a free Carehaven Workforce Review. We'll benchmark your current agency use and hand you a costed coverage plan you keep.

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Or call our workforce team on 1300 310 605

More for aged-care buyers

Your next step → How a 30-day coverage pilot works →

Closing 24/7 RN roster gaps without runaway agency cost → Why agency cancellations happen — and how to cut them → What a local worker pod is (and why it beats a database) → How a 30-day coverage pilot works →

General information for aged-care operators, not clinical, legal or funding advice. Confirm current registration, licensing and screening requirements with the relevant regulators.