industry & reform
In fact, it’s become a very dangerous
notional division. I think it’s largely aimed
at competitive rivalries and keeping the
industry fragmented.
The reality is, regardless of your
company status, they operate the same
way. They still have to do workforce
modelling and skills-mixed modelling.
They still need to find the capital to invest.
And they still need to get a return on
investment, because everybody has to get
the capital from somewhere.
What I found most interesting is that if
they lose that notional distinction and start
talking about the purpose of their individual
organisations, what differentiates them?
Why is their workforce special, what is their
care commitment? That’d be a far higher
quality conversation to have, rather than
this arbitrary structure distinction.
Management tends to have a rosier
outlook than many day-to-day,
hands‑on carers. Is this an issue?
It’s not unusual to see management
think that they’re doing a good job and
the employees and staff have a differing
view. In this industry, it’s a substantially
different view.
The only way you can solve those issues is
sitting down with your executive team and
employees and really trying to understand
why that gap exists. And then put activities
in to solve it.
This is not something you do at a
governmental level. It’s not something you
do in academic research. It’s a business-
by-business conversation.
There does need to be more investment
by businesses in leadership, open feedback
systems and employee engagement.
There needs to be a commitment at
board level to listen and then respond to
what they’re hearing from their employees.
From time to time, there should be an
industry-wide survey on these things to see
how it is evolving.
Then [this survey should be used] to
create various benchmarks for individual
businesses to identify where they sit on that
continuum and to identify opportunities
for improvement.
What would be the first simple measure
that could be implemented now
that you think would make a tangible
difference to the sector?
We could make a commitment to
holistic care planning that says that every
advanced care plan, or every care plan
produced for an individual, will include a
clinical care plan, a functional healthcare
plan, a cognitive healthcare plan, cultural
needs identification, and the ‘living well’
aspirations of the individual.
That care plan might be just one page
longer than the current care plan, but it
would recognise the importance of a ‘living
well’ model of care and the full needs of
the individual.
That then has to drive into the skills
mix and the minimum staffing levels
across nursing, occupational therapy,
physiotherapy, diversional therapy and
personal care workers to deliver those
care plans.
Our starting position has to be the
quality and the holistic nature of the care
that we’re looking to deliver. ■
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