The Royal Commission into Aged Care and Safety wasn’t supposed to make any recommendations in its interim report. Yet it identified three key areas where immediate action should be taken.

Responding to the over-reliance on chemical restraint was one. The second and third focused on providing more home care and reducing the number of younger people in aged care homes.

As one way to address chemical restraint, health minister Greg Hunt this week announced doctors will soon have to justify why a patient needs to have the drug risperidone for more than 12 weeks.

But this move is yet another quick fix that won’t solve this complex problem.