Understand your clients’ strategies and the most pressing issues they are facing. Again, these point to opportunities for focus and education. A report by the Institute for Health and Ageing and the Australian Catholic University, Older and Wiser: Putting the Consumer’s Voice at the Centre of Residential Aged Care states that “the advent of Consumer-Directed Care (CDC) in Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) will require a revolutionary change in the service delivery mindset” (p7:2017). This commences the process leading to a change in status from ‘care recipient’ to ‘consumer’ and to being encouraged and supported to having a consumer voice which is at the centre of service delivery planning, design, delivery and evaluation. Shocking narratives involving the abuse and neglect of elderly people housed in residential aged care facilities made headlines in early 2018. It’s expected the organisation has governance systems in place to assess, monitor and drive improvement in the quality and safety of the care and services they provide. This necessitates a variety of strategies for hearing the consumer voice in relation to consent, choice and dignity of care. Walking backwards into the future, looking at their glorious past, therefore being leaders of resisting organisations, or Australia and New Zealan… The department actively support effective governance of public sector residential aged care services. Aged Care Industry Association 4. The Governance Institute says research from leading aged care consultancy StewartBrown suggest up to 56 per cent of facilities were losing money at … Considerations for companies in Australia approaching their 2020 annual general meeting, Key takeaways from the Aged Care Royal Commission’s Special Report on COVID-19 in Aged Care, 'Neglect' in the Interim: Aged Care Royal Commission releases preliminary conclusions, The Aged Care Royal Commission: what to expect, A post-Royal Commission world: 8 factors that will shift the dynamics of the aged care sector, The Race for the White House 2020: State AG Responses to a Trump or Biden Victory. The ongoing scrutiny put on aged care sector by the Royal Commission and media focus, coupled with the added weight of the COVID-19 crisis has put an enormous pressure on directors and managers of companies in the industry. As we touched on in last month’s webinar (which you can watch here) resilience and... As we started to touch on in last month’s blog post, year three is a magic number in the evaluation journey. 3. Key to true engagement is to always return to acknowledge the input and what has occurred as a result. Aged care organisations need to ensure their approach to clinical governance puts aged care clients at the centre, a provider’s head of quality and safety tells Australian Ageing Agenda. In fact, organisational governance is now an explicit condition of accreditation for all government-funded aged care facilities under Standard 8 in the new Aged Care Quality Standards. Effective governance of clinical care must also take into account the imperatives of the Aged Care Quality Standards (2018), including Consumer-Directed Care. Good governance keeps you on track : your organisation is on a path to maturity … A manifestation of the organisation’s commitment to safe, quality care is that staff work, and are enabled to work, in a manner which minimises the risk of harm to consumers and themselves and that maximises the likelihood of safe, quality care outcomes. The compliance and performance indicators requested from Juniper have since been provided to the City. The only way to see improvement is to keep coming back. The Clinical Governance in Aged Care conference is taking place on 28th & 29th October 2020 via live stream and will support you with the knowledge and practical insights to improve safety, accountability and compliance. This will depend on the services your organisation provides. All Regis staff (including temporary employees, contractors, Senior Executives) and Directors must comply with the Code of Conduct. It came as no surprise then that the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was established in September. Q: Is the Board sure that staff are appropriate for the delivery of safe care? It is against this backdrop of due diligence that directors and boards of aged care organisations are assessing their policies and practices – to both ensure that governance frameworks comply with the new Aged Care Quality Standards, and to establish a robust organisational culture of diligent and authentic service quality and safety. To assist with governance in this sector, the Governance Institute revised and relaunched its guide to help the embattled sector navigate an increasingly complex set of regulatory and operational challenges. The purpose of clinical governance is to support the workforce and visiting practitioners in your service to provide safe, quality clinical care as part of an holistic approach to aged care that is based on the needs, goals and preferences of consumers. A checklist of information a potential board member should receive or request. Good governance is a legal requirement: such requirements include board members’ legal obligations, Standard 8 of the Aged Care Quality Standards, and the common law duty of care. Q: Does the Board partner with consumers? Please enable JavaScript in order to get the best experience when using this site. I also share the information from the articles with my colleagues. We surveyed managers of Residential Aged Care facilities to find out. Effective aged care boards have in place processes such as: A resident/consumer engagement plan that identifies the consumers and their definition of vulnerability, A consumer engagement plan with clear reporting structures for boards, residents/ consumers and identified others, Residents committees who report to the quality committee or the board, Annual meetings with large groups of consumers and their family/carers to hear and make sense of multiple voices, Satisfaction surveys that produce well-trended and benchmarked reports, Older and Wiser: Putting the Consumer’s Voice at the Centre of Residential Aged Care. There had been reports of substandard care where residents were fed on food worth seven dollars a day. Explore the critical relationship between the Chair and CEO of aged care organisations. Clinical Governance in aged care is about how the Board, executives, managers and staff all relate, share responsibility and are held accountable for delivering safe and high-quality clinical care and services to Elders. For further information contact Viv Hardy on 0411 208 951 or Steven Burrell on (02) 9223 5744 or 0407 708 485. Governance Evaluator has sourced some resources which we think you might find useful to build any board’s capabilities in this area: Governing safety and quality is about ensuring that the organisation delivers safe, high-quality care to its consumers in accordance with the principles of Consumer-Directed Care resulting in an enhanced quality of life as measured by validated instruments. Traditional programmatic residential aged care and home care organisations and their service – business models are Red Telephone Boxes. The Governance of Clinical Care Benchmark Report Part 2 explores: Both Standards are incorporated in the Governance of Clinical Care module themes of the Governance Evaluator board evaluation. Initial planning occurred with the Australian Government Department of Health and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Fig 1:  2018 evaluation findings for genuinely partnering with consumers. Due to their complexity and importance, the findings that relate to each theme will be examined in depth across two reports: Governance of Clinical Care Part 1 will explore: Governance of Clinical Care Part 2 will explore: Within the Governance Evaluator, each theme is explored via a series of targeted questions, each with four possible responses: The aged care industry is undergoing an important revolution with the increasing involvement of patients and recipients of care as consumers. Q: Is the Board governing safety and quality? The Commission’s clinical governance resources were developed with input and advice from a range of stakeholders. As consumers are required to pay more, they will become more demanding as to the type and standard of care they receive. Yes: Represents a mature governance capability within the board and the criteria wholly satisfied, as judged by the participants. The department actively support effective governance of public sector residential aged care services. Overall, we have learnt that resilience isn’t built in a... A common theme over our last few blog posts has been continuity, whether that be evaluation, education or development. Hear from … The board is accountable for the quality of care delivered in, and by, the organisation and its staff. Moreover, there were reported cases of both unintended harm as well as deliberate acts of elder abuse and neglect, and premature death from injury… Request the report here "An Essential Guide to Standard 8 and Governance, Risk and Compliance for Residential Aged Care Boards" Request the webinar recording, slides and suggested resources from this webinar created for residential aged care Boards and Management Teams. As a key component of the Aged Care Quality Standards, it’s important that the board and executive have a shared understanding of their roles and responsibilities to … The Standards brought rise to the National Clinical Governance Framework, which states that the governance of clinical care involves a complex set of leadership behaviours, policies, procedures, and monitoring and improvement mechanisms that are directed towards ensuring good clinical outcomes. The Governance Evaluator 2018 Governance Capability Benchmark Report analysed board evaluation responses from over 70 boards comprising almost 700 members across multiple industries. Issues which a board should consider when inviting a new member onto the board of an aged care provider. Progress reports have been provided to the Aged Care Governance Committee on the development of a governance framework for management of the City’s residential care facilities, and the Committee has also been briefed on Juniper’s management of the facilities during the COVID-19 emergency period. Only 39% of boards are satisfied that their directors all understand the increasing shift toward the paradigm of consumers-as-partners being genuinely embedded within the care framework and have actively and successfully embraced the level of engagement needed to bring these changes to fruition. The ACQSC’s Guidance and Resources for Providers to Support the Aged Care Quality Standards (Guidance and Resources) defines clinical governance as: “The set of relationships and responsibilities between the organisation’s governing body, executive clinicians, consumers and others to … The guidance “will assist current and future board members as scrutiny and demands on the aged care sector continue to increase” and is ‘mandatory reading’ for anyone currently on the board of an aged care provider, whether they are new in the role or not, as well as anyone considering taking on a board position. Become your target audience’s go-to resource for today’s hottest topics. Have a plan for consumer engagement that has more than one strategy for genuine engagement. What is Governance of Clinical Care? The unique challenges of governance in a changing aged care sector, including: a more competitive environment with less reliable funding from government. Read, Governance Evaluator customers can access the following, and other useful resources via the platform, Governance Manual – 8.3 Terms of Reference for a Consumer Advisory Committee, Governance TV – Kellie O’Callaghan – Effective Stakeholder Engagement; how to plan, measure and assess, In your strategic planning process, ensure that ‘. Demonstrate and develop leadership, experience and skills for relevant board subcommittees such as the quality and/or clinical governance subcommittees, by: Gaining a strong understanding of the corporate and sector skills and experiences of directors and ensuring directors who have strong or significant aged care sector and clinical governance skills and experience are leading the quality/clinical governance committee, Ensuring all directors are well inducted into the safety and quality and risks of the organisation, Investing in upskilling directors who don’t have strong sector/clinical governance skills. LASA, the national peak body representing and supporting providers of age services across residential care, home care and retirement living, has a useful range of reports and policy documents on their website: Governance Evaluator Development & Skills Matrix for aged care boards –, Governance TV – Dr Liz Mullins – What I learnt at Djerriwarrh Health Services, Governance TV – Dr Alison Brown – How to lead culture at a board level for quality and safety, Understand your duty of care for staff by ensuring management are held to account for compliance with relevant Occupational Health and Safety Laws and sustaining a workplace culture that values staff, their professionalism and wellbeing, Receive high-quality information/reports about care delivery and other staff performance so that you are assured about the safety of the workplace and the ability of staff to perform their duties effectively, Emphasise to management the importance of, and hold management accountable for, employing appropriately skilled, credentialed staff, Encourage and support continuing professional development, staff education and training as a critical component of ensuring the delivery of safe and quality care, Credentialing health practitioners and defining their scope of clinical practice: A guide for managers and practitioners, which can be accessed, Governance Evaluator TV – Managing clinical risk, ensuring quality and safety (Effective Clinical Governance), Resources Manual – 4E Staff engagement and accountability. Lead a culture for continuous review and development – it is not sufficient to just ‘hear the voice’, it is also essential to maintain the connection with consumers and others through the planning, implementation and review stages. Aged Care Quality and Safety Advisory Council 5. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare’s NSQHS Standards apply to healthcare, community and aged care organisations in Australia, regardless of their location or size. Effective governance of clinical care must also take into account the imperatives of the Aged Care Quality Standards (2018), including Consumer-Directed Care. many consumers are entering aged care much later in life with increasingly complex health care needs. The ongoing scrutiny put on aged care sector by the Royal Commission and media focus, coupled with the added weight of the COVID-19 crisis has put an enormous pressure on directors and managers of companies in the industry. Aged and Community Services Australia 2. Any responses in this category highlight the need for board capability improvement and education. Both Standards are incorporated in the Governance of Clinical Care module themes of the Governance Evaluator board evaluation. Genuinely engaging with consumers in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of care can improve the decision-making of organisations, the behaviour of care delivery staff, and the experience of consumers, their families and carers, and may lead to more appropriate care. Clinical governance in aged care – putting the principles into practice 30th November 2020 Clinical governance is essential for delivering safe, quality clinical care and good clinical outcomes for each consumer. From July 1, clinical governance is now reviewed under the new Aged Care Quality Standards, which focus on aged care consumer outcomes. An iterative process of development was then undertaken with input from: 1. Aged care is complex due to the agedness, frailty, vulnerability and often cognitive impairment of the consumer and often the consumer’s voice comes from many sources, such as loved ones, family, carers and others. Consequently, their medical and clinical care needs are more complex and acute. Fig 3:  2018 evaluation findings for staff who deliver safe care. In the aged care system, provision of clinical care in RACFs is monitored by the Australian Aged Care Safety and Quality Commission (the Commission). tools to assist you identify key governance risks for the aged care sector questions to help you evaluate the effectiveness of information given to the board. At Governance Evaluator, we have been talking a lot about Resilient Governance over the last few blog posts and webinars, in particular as a skill required for leading through these unprecedented COVID-19 times. No: Represents an early capability assessment of the board in that area. Please contact [email protected]. About Governance Institute of Australia. the user-pays system. If you would like to learn how Lexology can drive your content marketing strategy forward, please email [email protected]. " The board is responsible for ongoing continuous review and development of quality and safety. While governance systems are a foundation for most businesses, this Standard is focused on how these systems support the delivery of safe and quality aged care services. Understand who your consumers are. With the prediction that 23% of the Australian population is forecast to be 65 years and over by 2066 and estimates that by 2050 the aged care workforce will need to have grown to around 980,000 workers, there are very specific risks and opportunities that need to be considered by directors in this sector. Governance Institute of Australia is the only independent professional association with a sole focus on whole-of-organisation governance. The next generation search tool for finding the right lawyer for you. Aged Care Guild 3. I am often saving copies of the articles for future reference or for use on matters I am working on. Aged Care Governance Committee Minutes 15 December 2020 Page 7 The current standards cover consumer dignity and choice, ongoing assessment and planning with involvement by the care recipients as consumers, personal and clinical care, supports for daily living, the overall service environment, feedback and complaints and organisational governance. Safe, quality care is the core business of aged care organisations and this is a key focus of the board. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Standards set out a range of requirements with which approved aged care providers must comply in order to maintain their accreditation as an aged care provider and therefore their eligibility for Commonwealth Government funding. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, in addition to high-profile crisis events at other aged care providers, have highlighted the importance of effective organisational governance in aged care. aged care governance standards but is valid until 2022, and the City will continue to work with Juniper to develop an appropriate reporting mechanism in line with the City’s aged care governance framework, with updates to be provided to the next Committee meeting. A look at the stakeholders of an aged care provider — and ways to interact and build relationships. The Aged Care Quality Standards require aged care services that provide clinical care to demonstrate the use of a clinical governance framework (Standard 8, 3 (e)). This month we commence our two-part investigation into Governance of Clinical Care; the issues uncovered in our research, as well as tips and resources for ensuring your board is leading a culture that supports the delivery of safe & quality aged care. Unsure: Measures a construct other than overall board capability as it reflects individual members of the board or leadership team that are unsure of the board’s level of functioning. You’ll learn strategies to help you deliver improved outcomes as an aged care provider for your customers through the pandemic and beyond. Delivering quality & safety for aged care consumers beyond compliance Ensuring consumers get dignity and respect, underpinned by genuine choice and control How will Boards of aged care providers ensure their organisation meets consumer expectations and the standards? Fig 2:  2018 evaluation findings for Governing Safety & Quality. Effective clinical governance is critical to the delivery of safe and high quality care for aged care consumers. 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