Wanted: Like-minded provider for collaboration

Small-to-medium sized aged care operators concerned about their ongoing viability in the face of sector reform are coming together to explore potential partnerships at a networking event in Western Australia tomorrow.

More than 80 leaders of aged care businesses with fewer than 100 employees in the Southern Perth and Peel region will meet to discuss partnership opportunities to strengthen their business, ensure their viability and bolster against being bought out by larger operators.

The organisers of the Southern Perth/Peel Aged Care WIN event say the forum will provide information on how partnerships can be initiated, including first-hand examples showing where and how collaboration has been managed.

The WA network is one of 10 taking part in the national Aged Care WIN project, which is part of the $12 million Aged Care Innovation Project. The WINs, which aim to connect regional stakeholders so as to develop local partnerships and solutions, are facilitated by the Community Services & Health Industry Skills Council (CS&HSC).

The Perth meeting will hear from fellow WIN participants in South Australia, NSW and Tasmania who have explored partnerships in order to maintain their viability.

Strength in numbers

Research into the issues in the Southern Perth and Peel region at the beginning of the project found that the providers wanted to move forward collaboratively, but were not sure how best to achieve this.

Eliza Mitchell, the business partner for the Southern Perth/Peel Aged Care WIN, said that with a number of operators in the region having limited knowledge of the potential opportunities for partnering, the event would be an important opportunity for collaboration.

“Many businesses I’ve spoken to are scared that aged care reform is creating an atmosphere that will encourage large organisations to take them over,” said Ms Mitchell. “They fear a loss of identity and think their organisation will be swallowed up.”

One of the lead agents behind the forum, Irene Mooney, CEO of Quambie Park, said that through collaboration, organisations had the opportunity to make themselves sustainable and relevant.

“Really it’s about remaining local,” she told Australian Ageing Agenda. “One of the things we recognise in aged care is that seniors want to remain living in their community, where things are familiar to them and they feel connected. For a lot of small-to-medium sized aged care services that are working in one location or region, they know their customers really well.”

Ms Mooney said the forum was an identified local need. “With the reforms to aged care coming through, how do boards and CEOs of these organisations take a proactive strategic view of remaining viable and relevant for their customers, but also relevant in terms of proving services that tax payers are willing to fund?”

The forum would provide a safe environment where providers could talk about barriers and opportunities, “a collective where people can start collaborating and sharing,” she said.

The value of sharing knowledge, particularly for CEOs and boards was evident from the experience of WIN partners in other states, said Ms Mooney. As such, the forum would hear from industry partners from South Australia, NSW and Tasmania, who had engaged in collaborations and partnerships.

Just as WA could learn from WIN partners in other states, Ms Mooney said the project working group would follow up with Thursday’s attendees to find out what new collaborations or partnerships the forum had led to. That feedback would subsequently be provided to the other WIN projects, she said.

“That sharing of knowledge and information, and linking between the projects, has been one of the great successes coming out of WIN,” Ms Mooney said.

For more on the national Aged Care WIN project, see the CS&HISC website.