Resthaven and Bushland Health pick up prestigious awards

A wellness and reablement initiative and a nurse practitioner model for palliative care have been named as the inaugural winners of the National Innovation and Excellence in Aged Care awards.

Resthaven’s Better Practice Award (from left) Richard Hearn, Sue McKechnie and Lynn Openshaw

A wellness and reablement initiative and a nurse practitioner model for palliative care have been named as the inaugural winners of the National Innovation and Excellence in Aged Care awards.

The two winners were announced by Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt at the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency’s Better Practice conference in Sydney last night.

The new Better Practice awards aim to highlight industry leaders worthy of national and international recognition in aged care practice.

The awards went to South Australian residential and home care provider Resthaven for its wellness and reablement in the home initiative and to Bushland Health Group, a residential provider on the NSW mid-north coast, for its nurse practitioner-led palliative care model.

CEO Richard Hearn said Resthaven had a strong focus on co-design of services and that the award reflected the genuine intent of staff to work in partnership with older individuals.

“We focus on wellness strategies to support people to maintain or regain their independence, goal setting with each person, and finding out what is important to them to improve their quality of life,” Mr Hearn said.

Staff have worked to change the work culture from doing for to working in partnership with consumers, he said.

“They have worked diligently and have embraced the reablement approach.”

Also at the event, quality agency CEO Nick Ryan announced 38 winners of commendation awards for their programs in residential and home aged care (full list below).

Mr Ryan said the awards highlighted the positive programs in action for older Australians and rewarded staff, management, clients and organisations for their hard work.

“The stand-out providers spend time finding out what their consumers want, and then find a way to make it happen.”

Mr Ryan said it was pleasing to see strong representation in both residential and home care among the winners, including the first from the Northern Territory – a remote home care provider.

Bushland Health Group’s Better Practice Award (from left) Andrea Coote, Sharyn Speakman, Bernadette Burke, Margaret Mills, Erroll Curran and Nick Ryan

Commendation award winners

  • Weeroona Aged Care Plus for Food Glorious Food
  • The Salvation Army Aged Care Plus for Making Moments Matter
  • Lutheran Church of Australia Queensland District for Living Life in Aged Care
  • Sapphire Care for MyHUB an Integrated Workspace
  • RSL Care RDNS for Partnering with Consumers for Diversity
  • Scalabrini Village Allambie Heights for “Let’s Move to Italy” Program
  • Aged Care & Housing Group for Restoration in Any Setting
  • Anglican Care for Lifestyle Resource Van
  • Hall & Prior Health & Aged Care Group for Resisting Age Related Muscle Decline
  • integratedliving Australia for Memory Wellness
  • integratedliving Australia for Clinical Governance
  • Elizabeth Lodge (Rushcutters Bay) for Enablement-Inside and Outside
  • Vasey RSL Care for Living our Values and Promises – Home Care Program
  • Resthaven Marion for Spirituality in the Garden
  • Anglican Palliative Care Support Team for Building Palliative Care Capacity
  • Hall & Prior Health & Aged Care Group for Reducing Risperidone use in Dementia
  • Bupa Care Services – Woodville for Healthy Heart in Aged Care
  • Hall & Prior Health & Aged Care Group for My Life, My Wishes
  • Carers NT for Culturally Appropriate Support in Communities
  • Harbison Memorial Retirement Village for Graduate Nurse Program
  • Rainbow The Multicultural Aged Care Program for Attitude Matters Most
  • Vasey Brighton East for Memories Through Music
  • Jewish Care (Victoria) for Clients Expectations Driving Continuous Improvement
  • NovaCare Community Services for Singing with our Community
  • Barossa Village for Foods with a Bite
  • BaptistCare Maranoa Centre – Alstonville for Something is in the Air
  • RSL Care SA for Social Connectedness for Mental Wellbeing
  • Heathcote Health Low Care Service for Residents and Volunteer Meals on Wheels Program
  • The Old Colonists’ Association of Victoria, Liscombe House for Dialysis in Aged Care
  • Numurkah District Health Service for Community Café and Wellbeing Garden
  • Ti Tree at Village Glen for Employee Sustainability through Traineeships
  • Anglicare Chesalon Beecroft for 5 Magic Minutes
  • Carrington Care for Intergenerational Reminiscence Project
  • Scalabrini Village – Chipping Norton for The Open Heart Program
  • Ti Tree at Village Glen for Communication App in Aged Care
  • Goodhew Gardens – Anglicare for Challenging Tradition: Unlocking the DSU
  • Community Care Tasmania for Community Connections: Improving Bhutanese Wellness

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Tags: AACQA, Australian Aged Care Quality Agency, better-practice-awards, bushland-health-group, news-ccrn-4, nick-ryan, palliative care, reablement, resthaven, richard-heard, wellness,

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