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Provider rebrands
New name and uniforms for RSL Care and RDNS.
RSL Care and RDNS will now be known as Bolton Clarke. The organisation was formed following a merger between the two providers in 2015. Chief executive Stephen Muggleton said while the previous names served the respective organisations well in their own markets, the group faced difficulty when the names were operating in the same streams, and added that staff were working in the same places under different brands.
“ We needed to position a new, elegant brand across the group for cohesion, almost to complete the merger but also, importantly, to position us to have the one brand across a range of different service streams,” Muggleton said.
The team looked to the history of both organisations to define the new brand and drew from its early leaders.
Philanthropist Lady Janet Clarke, born in 1851, became president of the Melbourne District Nursing Society( later RDNS) in 1889.
Muggleton said Clarke opened up her home to serve meals to and support the sick-poor.
“ Supporting the sick-poor in Melbourne still remains in our group constitution today,” he said.
Lieutenant colonel William Kinsey Bolton, born in 1860, was a returned serviceman and Gallipoli veteran who in 1916 became the first president of the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League( forerunner of the RSL). Muggleton said there is still a ridge on the right flank of ANZAC Cove named after him.
He said the new name reflects where the organisation has come from but also positions it for growth moving forward.
Today, Bolton Clarke employs more than 6500 staff who make over four million client visits every year in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and China, and support more than 22,000 veterans annually and over 5600 residents in retirement living and residential care communities.
Muggleton said Bolton Clarke is starting to see the results of the merger and is able to scale a range of services in different geographies.
“ For example, we’ re using the RSL Care building capability to undertake new integrated service developments in Melbourne. We’ ve got a big integrated site coming out of the ground in Bundoora, another one in St Kilda and one in Box Hill, so we’ re starting to use the residential aged care in Melbourne. RSL Care has benefited enormously from some of the expertise that RDNS offers, both in terms of its research institute [ now named the Bolton Clarke Research Institute ], but also its training and community care expertise in Queensland.” ■
Merger announced
Joint company will own and operate 35 residential services in Victoria.
BlueCross and Sapphire Care have announced they are set to merge. The companies will combine business operations in the coming months and anticipate completion later this year.
The two providers made the announcement via a joint communiqué penned by BlueCross chairman David Eccles and Sapphire Care chairman Tony Battle. They said the boards of both organisations believe the merger provides a strategic platform to leverage growth and market opportunities to meet the needs of ageing Australians.
Current BlueCross chief executive Alan Lilly will lead the newly merged company.
Lilly, a registered psychiatric nurse and adjunct professor with the Australian Catholic University, said both providers have a strong focus on culture, adding that, as a result of the merger, the team will be able to pick the best systems that BlueCross and Sapphire Care are currently using.
The joint company will own and operate 35 residential services across metropolitan Melbourne, Phillip Island and Kilmore. The provider has more than 2630 residential care beds and a pipeline of more than 500 new beds to become active in the next two years, as well as a home care service delivering care to more than 1000 community clients.
Lilly confirmed that frontline services will remained unchanged and that head office will see the most change, as the team streamlines systems and processes.
“ We have set up a streamlined process for issues and questions to be escalated in a timely manner and we’ ve already provided staff with FAQs which will be updated regularly,” he added.
“ We will support staff during this change, and regularly consult and communicate with them.”
The new amalgamation is anticipating significant growth in home care and respite services, as well as continued growth in specialist services.
“ We’ re aiming to be an Employer of Choice, and our new [ enterprise bargaining agreement ] for the first time includes provisions for parental leave, and we have also introduced a salary packaging program for our staff which is fully funded by the organisation,” Lilly added.
He said the team is focused on ensuring the merger is successful and will do whatever it takes to get there.
“ Our culture will define us, and we’ re committed to being a great place to learn and work. Living our values is at the heart of what we do every day.” ■
2 agedcareinsite. com. au