Providers see department’s goodwill
Providers tell Australian Ageing Agenda they are ready for the upcoming 1 July changes but hope the Department of Health and Aged Care is too, expressing sympathy for its “herculean task.”
As providers of both residential and home care services, mid-size, southern Sydney and ACT-based provider Warrigal, and large, majority South Australia-based provider Southern Cross Care SA, NT & VIC have a heavy workload to ensure they are ready for the 1 July changes.
Preparation for the upcoming reform to residential care quality standards and administrative changes for Support at Home has seen SCC SA, NT & VIC introduce internal project teams to address the different policies, work instructions, gaps in policy references and system changes, chief executive officer David Moran said.
Mr Moran said SCC SA, NT & VIC had just began implementing new internal changes to their rostering systems, making the timing “woeful,” but is overall happy with the level of support the department has been providing.
“The sector’s got a lot of work to do, and I think there’s actually a sentiment of sympathy for those working in the government because they’ve got a Herculean task,” he told AAA.
“We’re having to rebuild and shape the boat, they’re trying to build an arc, and there’s no time to do it in.
“The way the government are working, they’re absolutely trying to be supportive, and we’re on the aged care sector reference group, and we’re a digital transformation sector partner as well, and the goodwill is absolutely there with the people working within government.
“They are releasing information when they can, and the problem is we’re seeing that tip of the iceberg, and not everything underneath, because there’s bits that are just not ready to be delivered yet. The classic example is the Support at Home manual, which doesn’t come out until March, so that kind of limits how much a provider can do, and that’s not any lack of intent of the government to support the amount of work that’s been given by the politicians to deliver this. They’re under extreme pressure.”
Mr Moran said he felt as though the department had been listening to the industry bodies well but he was a little concerned that SaH had less comprehensive information available.
“I think the government was probably better informed to be able to make the key changes to residential care,” he explained.
“I think Support at Home almost has a wider remit the way it works, because it’s very diverse when you’re going from a very domestic level of support up to clinical, and a lot of home care providers don’t provide much clinical [support].
“I do believe there was more focus on [residential], the information has been more complete and better, for want of a better term, but I do think Support at Home probably is harder because of the breadth of what they’re covering and trying to cover, and then I think there’s some difficulty around how we work through the change to the administration fee and where the hourly rates go in that too, and that’s a pretty significant change.”
Warrigal chief executive officer Jenni Hutchins said the southern Sydney and ACT based provider was looking forward to the shift towards human-rights-centric care focused on the person rather than the organisation, as that signalled a step forward for the sector.
Like Mr Moran, she said the department has been doing as much as it reasonably can to help providers prepare, and while she would like to see more information released, she recognises the enormity of the department’s task.
She told AAA that Warrigal has been prioritising good governance in its preparation for the changes, including operational governance at the executive level. They have also established working groups to look at the best way of introducing things like the strengthened standards and Support at Home while maintaining Warrigal’s vision, values and strategic plan.
“If I had a magic wand, I would say to you, I want the Rules and [regulations] to sit under the [legislation] so that we can then collaborate as a sector and work in partnership with the government, because I absolutely believe our job is to work in partnership with the government and never in an adversarial way,” she said.
“I think the people in government are there because they want to see what’s in the best interests of the older person as well, so I think there’s good intent and goodwill there.
“A challenge is that we don’t have everything we think we need or want to be able to be 100 per cent ready by July 1.
“It worries me a bit, I must say, but I think best endeavours come in here, and we can say to the government, we’ve used our best endeavours with the information we’ve got to be as ready as we can be for the new legislation and standards.”
Ms Hutchins pointed to the numerous webinars and seminars that have been hosted to ensure information is reaching providers, saying this has also helped foster a collaborative transition period and she looked forward to the ongoing release of information.
Comment on the story below. Follow Australian Ageing Agenda on LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook, sign up to our twice-weekly newsletter and subscribe to our premium content or AAA magazine for the complete aged care picture.
