A recent The Future of Home and Community Care conference in
Sydney, brought together experienced and passionate leaders from aged care
providers across Australia. The two days were packed with informative
presentations and robust discussion surrounding the practical impact of
Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) reforms.
Here are our top three takeaways from the conference:
Investing in your
workforce is critical
This was a prominent theme throughout the conference, with
almost every presentation highlighting the importance of bringing all levels of
staff along the evolution to ensure sustainability in the reformed HACC
landscape. The role of staff maintaining face to face contact with consumers and
the need to redesign contact roles was discussed at length; key questions were
raise about the appropriate levels of investment into staff training to equip
them for the new aged care landscape and support them through the journey.
A question from the floor highlighted the ongoing issue of
broaching financial issues with clients, with delegates sharing their
experiences to date. One delegate sharing her personal experience told the
audience staff must be confident in handling financial discussions otherwise
the organisation will come across to clients as ill prepared.
Daryl Sahli from
Right at Home told delegates “a key foundation of the organisation’s service is
providing a highly flexible
and responsive service.” In order to consistently deliver on the promise of flexible
and responsive service, aged care providers must navigate the casualization of the workforce. Ada Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of
Australian Nursing Home Foundation Ltd also discussed the vital role care works
play in generating an exchange of ideas and enthusiasm for improved practice.
Be transparent about
where client money is going
The transition to person centred care across the aged care
sector has provided clients with a mechanism to determine where their money is
being spent. As a result clients are more in tune with where the financials of
their care. From a provider’s point of
view, the conference heard that balancing continuity of care with cost of
service provision is an important consideration under the CHSP reforms.
Carol Bain from
Silver Chain provided a WA perspective on putting fee policy into action,
telling the conference “…some staff found it difficult to accept clients
contributing a portion of the cost of care.” Adding that training and support
of staff will help CHSP providers prepare for changes.
The roundtable discussion at the end of the second day of
the conference focussed on unit costings, with a number of comments being made
about how to cost administration in particular.
Prepare for the impact of
Regional Assessment Service (RAS) on your service provision
Ben Vincent and Michelle Roffey from the Department of Social Services opened the
conference with an overview of reforms to date, with significant interest
surrounding the My Aged Care Regional Assessment Service or ‘RAS’.
The
face-to-face assessments for consumers accessing Commonwealth Home Support
Programme (CHSP) services will commence from July 2015. The independent
assessors will develop a support plan with consumers that identify their needs
and goals, finally assessor will send referrals for services.
Key
questions were raised from the floor including:
How
to get continuity of care with RAS?
How will RAS affect service delivery?
Q&A session with Ben Vincent and Michelle
Roffey from the Department of Social Services
Thank
you to the speakers and attendees who joined us at the Future of Home
and Community Care conference!
Having unfulfilled her childhood
dream of becoming an international spy, Ellise is loving her position as
Conference Production Manager at Akolade. Her favourite thing about the role is
that it allows her to stay abreast of the latest news across a variety of
industries while constantly learning from experts in their field.
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