Stewards of resources

How many facilities, services, residents, clients, and staff are within your procurement remit?

BaptistCare supports over 24,000 people across more than 100 locations in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia. Our portfolio comprises 33 aged care homes and 25 retirement living villages, and we deliver services to 9,000 home care clients.

BaptistCare Community Services and Housing supports vulnerable individuals and families through social and affordable housing, HopeStreet facilities, counselling, casework and family services. Following the merger with Baptistcare WA in 2023, we employ over 6,000 staff and 750 volunteers.

What are the main goods and services you procure?

Our largest categories include utilities, medical and hospitality consumables, continence products, allied health and agency staff, beds and mobility equipment, facilities maintenance, food and catering services.

What procurement channels and management technology do you use?

We contract directly with suppliers and distributors and increasingly via national agreements with our peak body Baptist Care Australia. We are integrating WA into one finance system (Technology One) and implementing full procure-to-pay functionality across the organisation.

What roles do environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and care recipients play in your organisation’s procurement process?

Environmental, social and governance are embedded in our procurement policy. ESG considerations are an increasingly important part of all procurement decisions across the organisation. Recent examples include a multi-year program of works to install solar across our residential aged care facilities, and the signing of a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement for the supply of renewable energy that will reduce our carbon footprint by 70 per cent for direct and some indirect emissions in NSW/ACT.

We are a conduit and enabler to unlocking value

We expect all our suppliers to adhere to a code of conduct and commit to high standards of human rights, transparency and ethical business conduct. The code is in addition to mandatory modern slavery clauses included in our external contracts.

To assess and address modern slavery risk, we use third-party platform EthiXbase to identify suppliers with a higher risk of exposure to modern slavery, in which we request completion of a modern slavery questionnaire every 12 months.

The organisation has recently launched its inaugural reconciliation action plan. We have identified First Nations procurement as an area we will be exploring further.

Where and how do you achieve cost and other efficiencies?

We periodically review and rationalise our category suppliers where it makes sense to do so to ensure spending is directed to our existing preferred suppliers leveraging existing agreements. Over the past 12 months, and especially following the merger with Baptistcare WA, the majority of new agreements I have negotiated have been national under our peak body Baptist Care Australia. This has enabled all our affiliated entities to leverage commercial terms based on aggregated spend volumes resulting in significant direct and indirect cost savings across the group.  

Where are your supply chain bottlenecks and how do you navigate them?

Fortunately, our supply chain has normalised post-Covid, and most bottlenecks we experience are now largely internal. Not surprisingly, early stakeholder engagement is key to ensuring processes are understood and expectations can be met. For large projects, such as new builds or major refurbishments of existing sites, project management is critical with dedicated resources in place. 

Staffing and rostering remain our number one challenge

From an education and training perspective, one of the most successful initiatives has been organising site visits across our various facilities. This has involved all members of the procurement team working from one of our sites for a day, with the aim of building relationships and solving issues with our frontline teams. We deliver an informative presentation to key members of staff on all things procurement, discuss recent successes and challenges, provide opportunities for questions and give a tour of the facility followed by lunch and volunteering in the afternoon.

What other procurement challenges is your organisation facing and how are you addressing them?

As a not-for-profit organisation, we recognise the importance of optimising our systems and processes to drive efficiency and reduce costs. This focus has only increased in the context of systemic funding challenges in the sector and the continuing cost of compliance. Meeting the clinical care needs of our residents remains our highest priority, whilst simultaneously managing costs within the available funding envelope. Staffing and rostering remain our number one challenge, particularly in the regional areas. Attracting and retaining staff is an ongoing issue for which there is no silver bullet. It requires a collaborative approach with multiple stakeholders from people and culture, operations and finance. 

What advice do you have for your counterparts?

Uphold and live daily our responsibility to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us. Never lose sight of the enormous value procurement brings to our organisations. We are a conduit and enabler to unlocking value, as we partner with our frontline teams to achieve the best possible outcomes for our residents and clients. Don’t get caught in the weeds; elevate conversations with your stakeholders, enabling them to see the bigger picture. Be empathetic, listen intently, make the effort to visit your sites, and build relationships that positively influence and align with the mission and values of your organisation. 

We hope you enjoyed this article – please add your comments below
Visit our features portal for more in-depth stories