Wellbeing for all

One of the main components of the Australian Government’s ten-year, $3.7 billion aged care reform package is the push towards consumer-directed care. The approach aims to give the recipients of care greater choice and control over the way their care is delivered.

So how are aged care providers adapting to this demand for a greater consumer focus?

New South Wales provider SummitCare has supported thousands of families through its residential aged care, and more recently, home care, for almost 50 years.

SummitCare chief executive Cynthia Payne has always prided the organisation on its consumer-centric values, but after two years of extensive research and feedback, SummitCare has formally integrated its fundamental policies into a new brand - Warmth, Worth, Wellbeing.

Ms Payne said that by delivering a care model with wellbeing at its core, SummitCare is essentially enabling consumers to have more choices.

“Wellbeing is different for each person at any given time of their journey,” she said.

“Individuals are at the centre of everything we do, and we aim to support their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.”

The re-brand began with the organic approach of a literature review on wellbeing and the quality of life, and assessing how that accorded with possible processes.

SummitCare operations manager Dr Irene Stein then led focus groups, workshops and discussions to form a vision for a robust model of care that enhanced wellbeing.

Dr Stein found it was important to shift the focus from care and medical practices to looking at customers in a holistic sense.

From this a committee of SummitCare staff from all specialty areas developed the Wellbeing Framework, and applied this model to various processes within the organisation to analyse the level of change necessary to realise the ultimate goal.

One aspect of change is the Wellbeing Assessment, undertaken for each client to use as a resource for their ongoing support plan.

Ms Payne ensures this is not a static process.

“Consumers’ needs and preferences change - our wellbeing support plan will also evolve to ensure we can meet these changing needs.”

Every document produced by SummitCare is now reviewed to ensure it fits with the Wellbeing Framework, yet the rollout is not only directed to clients.

One of the key outcomes of the steering committee’s research is that warmth, worth and wellbeing are universal values that should extend to staff members, recognising them as people with personal preferences and interests.

SummitCare offers employee assistance programs to ensure career paths are optimised through regular education and job opportunities. Successes are celebrated with an awards initiative.

Ms Payne said staff wellbeing is anticipated to have a ripple effect.

When staff are treated with warmth and worth, their services are delivered to clients in the same way.

“We want them to live out wellbeing in all they do, and we want to provide them with the tools to get them there,” she said.

SummitCare’s leadership team has just completed a roadshow to all its residential centres, communicating the organisation’s journey in accordance with legislative changes in aged care reform.

“Everyone at SummitCare recognises that delivering service excellence with wellbeing at the core means moving into a higher level of consumer focus – they know that and they are already acting in innovative ways to make that happen.”

Image: A carer joins residents of SummitCare Smithfield at the games table. CONTRIBUTED.