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Author: DCM-Institute

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ARQRV receives $139,000 to inform prospective clients of retirement villages

Judy Mayfield, President of the Association of Residents of Queensland Retirement Villages (ARQRV), announced that her organization secured funding from the Queensland Government. The grant, totaling $139,000, enables ARQRV to offer crucial guidance to potential clients.

“Our primary goal is to educate prospective residents about the necessity of seeking legal counsel when dealing with retirement living or land lease contracts,” Judy emphasized.

Highlighting the importance of legal advice, Judy underscored potential oversights in contracts, such as responsibilities for maintenance and contents insurance. Ensuring prospective residents grasp these nuances is paramount.

ARQRV employs various outreach strategies to engage with residents effectively. This includes hosting regular Zoom meetings with residents’ committees and developing manuals to aid Village Managers in collaborating with residents’ committees. Through these efforts, ARQRV aims to empower residents with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about retirement living.

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Recruiter finds quality candidates for operators – fast

In the retirement village sector, recruitment traditionally followed a reactive approach, filling roles as they opened up. However, with national unemployment dipping below 4%, businesses are now facing a fiercely competitive labour market. Consequently, the hunt for top talent has intensified, requiring a more proactive recruitment strategy.

Meet James Teodoro, the Recruitment Executive at DCM Executive Recruitment. James is adept at navigating this challenging job market, swiftly identifying quality candidates for operators. His success lies in going beyond conventional methods, delving deeper into talent pools to uncover hidden gems.

According to James, effective recruitment goes beyond posting ads on platforms like SEEK. DCM Executive Recruitment employs specialized practices to unearth candidates who might otherwise go unnoticed.

Speaking at the LEADERS SUMMIT, James emphasized the importance of tapping into talent with transferable skills and showcasing the unique opportunities within the retirement living sector.

“There are individuals intrigued by the diverse roles within retirement living, from Village Manager positions to executive roles. They are drawn to the sector’s purpose-driven nature,” James noted.

DCM Executive Recruitment’s approach prioritizes not just finding candidates, but also matching them with roles that align with their skills and interests.

To learn more about their recruitment processes, visit their website.

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Key things to help you everyday

Winners, Losers and Ostriches 

The last edition of FRIDAY followed the DCM Group’s successful LEADERS SUMMIT, attended by a record 579 people from the seniors living and aged care sector across the country. 

Earlier this week a series of videos from the event were shared online by The Weekly Source.  

We wanted to call out one that we feel every Village Professional should find the time to watch, a presentation by Cam Ansell.  

About 11 years ago Cam Ansell jumped ship from advisory group Grant Thornton to establish his own advisory group, Ansell Strategic. Today he is at the forefront of the reshaping of retirement living and aged care, thanks to his in-demand mergers and acquisition business.  

At the LEADERS SUMMIT in Sydney last week, he made the prediction that 11 years from now, there will be two hundred thousand residents enjoying ‘independent living’. This compares with today where 200,000 retirement village residents and 100,000 land lease residents live in affordable villages. The number will drop by 33%. 

The video below explains what makes up this prediction for independent living, and talks to a significant rise in community based home care. A topic we have been exploring through our recent Home Care in Retirement Living Masterclasses. 

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Insights from the Experts: Home Care in Retirement Living

Over the past two weeks, the DCM Institute hosted a Masterclass on Home Care in Retirement Living.

The webinar featured home care experts, Kylie Johnson from Living Choice, and Beverly Smith from myHomecare. The feedback from attendees was that the conversations had couldn’t have been more-timely, and when you look at the numbers it’s easy to see why.

According to PWC’s Retirement Living Census, the average age of residents within our villages is 81. We talk and write regularly around Dementia, with three out of every 10 Australians over the age of 80 living with a diagnosis. Research suggests there are many more undiagnosed.

Across the country we have Aged Care operators commending their facilities are full – and no more are being built.

The Home Care Packages Data Report (November 2023) suggests that as of 30 September 2023, there had been a 13% increase in people who had access to a Home Care Package (HCP) over the 12-month period. What’s more, there are an additional 31,500 waiting without

The numbers paint a picture that Village Managers are dealing with every day. Home Care is now part of our value proposition. The conversation on DCM Institute’s webinar came down to the types of models that are currently in the market, and what Managers can be doing to help residents remain independent and well in the safety of their retirement village home.

Equipping Village Managers with Essential Tools

“It’s about giving Village Managers that toolkit,” remarked Kylie, emphasising the importance of arming Managers with the necessary resources to support residents in their home care journey.

Kylie spoke about partnering with service providers in your local area health network to ensure Managers are having informed conversations with residents. This will then allow Village Managers to guide residents and their families effectively, promoting safety and independence as they age.

Establishing Strategic Partnerships

Beverly drew on her extensive experience with myHomecare, and previously Australian Unity where she was the Executive General Manager of their Retirement Living portfolio.

“Integrated models or long-term partnerships with home care providers are crucial,” she noted. These partnerships can be established at a local village level, or at a corporate level for larger operators. Regardless of the approach, Beverly advocated that a strategic partnership for those who do not provide home care as a service will ensure consistent and reliable support for residents and enhance the overall value proposition of the village community.

Leveraging My Aged Care as a Gateway

“My Aged Care is the National gateway into the Aged Care system,” highlighted Kylie.

By registering and exploring available resources on the platform, residents and Village Managers can gain valuable insights and access tailored support options.

Addressing Challenges in Accessing Timely Care

Acknowledging the challenges faced by residents in accessing timely care, Kylie highlighted lengthy wait times for assessments and approval of home care packages. It was noted that wait times can be up to 9 months for those with a Level 3 HCP.

Village Managers can play a proactive role, Kylie encouraged, through collaborating with family members, carers, discharge planners and case managers to expedite assessments, especially for high-priority cases.

Empowering Residents with Accurate Information

Beverly emphasised the importance of educating residents about their care options.

“Individualised advice is crucial,” she advised. By providing accurate information, Village Managers empower residents to make informed decisions about their care without unnecessary hesitation.

File Notes

The most challenging issue faced by Village Managers is when a resident’s health is deteriorating, and this is not being recognised or supported by family or loved ones. It was recommended by both Kylie and Beverly that Village Managers should take the time to keep quality ‘file notes’ – a simple record of what has been observed over a period of time.

Be Pro-active, collaborative and well informed.

The main take away from the webinar was the need for Village Professionals to be proactive in taking the time to understand the different care models, how to navigate systems like My Aged Care, and fostering partnerships with home care providers.

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Key things to help you everyday

From Learning to Action

Using Learning to Empower Action

It has been a few weeks now since we concluded our first series of Professional Development Days for 2024.

We looked at Sustainability and Village Budgets, with even the most seasoned Village Professionals telling us they walked away with something new. This is fantastic and is why these days are important to your development.

Now, lets talk taking important, and making it powerful.

No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.

Manmohan Singh

It all begins with a note

Review your notes in your Learning Journal promptly to recall what you wrote and grasp the context. It’s common to jot down something that makes perfect sense at the time, only to find it nonsensical four weeks later upon re-reading.

We have spoken before about the importance of reflection on any key takeaways and insights. It is through reflection that you can start the process of turning notes into action items. As you reflect, expand on the steps you’d need to go through to make an idea a reality. Consider, who are the key stakeholders? What, if any, budget will you need?

Get perspective

If others in your team were present, make the time to reach out to them and compare notes and learnings. Alternatively, this could be an opportunity to reconnect with your peer network, and those you shared a table with.

Find a way to share and discuss with colleagues and sector peers to help narrow your focus and confirm the steps required to turn these learnings into action items.

“You can’t boil the ocean”

This is a saying of a mentor who would use it to make sure any list of action items was achievable, which would take a combination of looking at the impact on the business or your residents, compared with the effort of achieving them.

Impact Vs Effort Matrix. To help identify the low hanging fruit – low effort, high impact action items.

If an action item is low impact, and takes little effort. It could make no difference in the overall scheme of things. These are action items that could be delegated to someone else.

Alternatively, if something is high impact for low effort, this is ‘low hanging fruit’. Something you should be looking to prioritise on impact value alone.

To begin with, start with the top 3 takeaways and fit them into the above matrix. It will help with prioritising you take away action items so that you don’t find yourself trying to ‘boil the ocean’.

Depending on the insights you want to implement into the village you might encounter some resistance and in March we are releasing a topic on Leading for Change that will assist you on how to handle that.

Handy tip: Talk to your Manager and residents about these action items. Not only will it keep them in the loop about what you’ve taken away from our Professional Development Days, it will also demonstrate the return on their investment in your professional development and create accountability while keep them informed of your progress.

Monitor and Report Back

Once you implement a change it’s not all one and done.  It might be a good idea to continue to monitor what you’ve done to assess its ongoing success and effectiveness. Remember to get some feedback from the team and other stakeholders, their feedback could take what you’ve done to a whole new level of success.

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Interviews with James Wiltshire Key things to help you everyday

Elder Abuse is ‘bad business’ says outgoing Commissioner 

Robert Fitzgerald elder abuse

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Robert Fitzgerald AM, the outgoing Commissioner of the NSW Ageing & Disability Commission.

The NSW Ageing and Disability Commission (ADC) was established in 2019 and promotes the rights of older people and adults with disability to live free of abuse in their family, home and community.

During the 2022-23 period, the Ageing and Disability Abuse Helpline received 4,258 statutory reports about allegations of abuse, 75% of which related to older people.

Reflecting on the progress made over the past five years, Mr. Fitzgerald noted an increased awareness within the sector regarding the prevalence of elder abuse, including within retirement villages.

But ‘awareness’ is not enough.

During our time together, the Commissioner emphasised the crucial responsibility retirement village operators hold in identifying and reporting elder abuse within their communities.

“I think it’s simply bad business if you have a retirement village where abuse exists, and it’s not dealt with quickly and appropriately.”

The Commissioner stressed that mere awareness is insufficient. highlighting the need for village operators to have proactive measures in place, and to train their staff in recognising the early signs of elder abuse.

He asserted that swift and appropriate action must be taken if abuse is suspected, emphasising the necessity of an Elder Abuse Prevention Strategy as mandated by Rule 10 of the Rules of Conduct for NSW retirement village operators.

NSW leads the way with village operators required to have Elder Abuse Prevention Strategy in place

Under Rule 10 of the Rules of Conduct for NSW retirement village operators, operators must prepare an Elder Abuse Prevention Strategy.

This Rule also requires that Village Managers are trained in the Strategy, so they know what steps to take if they do identify elder abuse in their village.

“We’re not trying to say that residents or staff should become experts in identifying what abuse is,” said the Commissioner. “That’s our job. “

“What we say is that if you are genuinely concerned about what you see, if you fear that somebody is being unduly influenced, if you believe that a relationship is forming that has elements which are more than just friendship or support, that’s the time to act.”

Advice to operators?

Download a copy of the Commission’s 24-page guide for village operators on how to meet Rule 10 and implement your Elder Abuse Prevention Strategy now if you haven’t already done so.

“I’m confident we’re on the right path working together, putting out material that can support and help retirement villages, but every operator of every retirement village in New South Wales has a responsibility to proactively implement those safeguarding arrangements, which will make a difference.”

Secondly, educate your staff and residents.

“The staff need to feel safe to raise concerns. Residents also need to feel safe. If they think the staff or the operator won’t take the issue seriously or worse, will treat them in a negative way – and that does happen – they won’t come forward.”

“The most important thing of all is to create a safe environment where abuse is just not tolerated,” concluded Mr Fitzgerald.

Will Elder Abuse Prevention Strategies become more widespread? We think YES.

Interestingly, we were in the ACT last month to attend an industry event. At the event was a representative from the Human Rights Commission, who actively assists residents and operators with mediation and dispute resolution.

Mr. Fitzgerald, this week commenced in his new role as the Age Discrimination Commissioner. This is a statutory position within the Australian Human Rights Commission, established under the Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth).

In his new role, Mr Fitzgerald’s office is responsible for addressing barriers to equality and participation caused by age discrimination and protecting Australians of all ages from discrimination based on age in employment, education, accommodation and the provision of goods and services.

Mr Fitzgerald is familiar with our sector, and with the report from the NSW Retirement Village Residents’ Association, Ageing Without Fear.

We can see the issue of Elder Abuse in retirement villages continuing to have the microscope on it, and operators being expected to do more to prevent it across the country.

This article was orginally posted as part of a SATURDAY project on Elder Abuse. To read the full article, subscribe here.

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Latest industry developments

What the Aged Care Task Force means for Retirement Village Operators?

There are 23 recommendations but the ones must pertinent to the retirement living sector are: 

  • Recommendation 1: Underpin the Support at Home Program with inclusion and exclusion principles and clearly defined service lists. 
  • Recommendation 3: It is appropriate older people make a fair co-contribution to the cost of their aged care based on their means. 
  • Recommendation 7: Establish a fee-for-service model for Support at Home that ensures participants only pay a co-contribution for services received.  
  • Recommendation 8: Introduce Support at Home participant co-contributions that vary based on the type of service accessed. 

“The Taskforce notes the Support at Home Program needs much clearer specifications than current programs about what it will and will not fund. The lack of clarity and consistency in inclusions and exclusions in current home care programs has led to confusion between providers and participants. This affects participants’ ability to make informed choices about their care, diminishes value for money in the programs, and could also mean that funds are not used according to the policy intent of home care,” it reads. 

In a nutshell, it wants to make the consumer pay for non-care components such as gardening, washing the dishes, and general cleaning.  

This is positive news for the sector. The Retirement Living Council (RLC) has released a new document titled “Shared Care”, the brainchild of Ryman Healthcare Australia CEO Cam Holland (pictured), which proposes part of a resident’s Home Care Package funding can be shared with the rest of the village to create efficiencies. An example would be part of the funds would contribute to a nurse on-site which would benefit the whole village as well as a care package recipient. 

Cam has long advocated for the ability to increase contributions from residents to lessen the burden on the taxpayer.

While direct aged care services should always be publicly funded, the accommodation and daily service costs aged care residents currently contribute to on top of that [in the form of refundable accommodation deposits and daily accommodation payments and basic daily fees] need to be deregulated.”

“Consumers, especially cashed-up Baby Boomers who are entering aged care in their droves, want the kind of accommodation and services they’ve enjoyed their entire lives, aged care operators want to provide these, but aren’t allowed to under the current model.

“Through a co-contribution model, government funding would cover care costs, while residents with the means to would contribute towards accommodation and daily hotel services that suit their individual tastes and requirements. Appropriate safety nets for those without means are already part of the current legislative environment and should be protected and strengthened.”

Cameron Holland, CEO, Ryman Healthcare Australia

Originally published by The Weekly Source.

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Workplace Relations Webinar

Workplace Relations Webinar: Psychosocial hazards and the right to disconnect

Who should attend: CEOs / Principals, Executives, GMs, Human Resource / People & Culture.  

Since the COVID-19 lockdown, there has been an increased focus on the importance of work/life balance, and the need for employees to be able to switch off at a certain point. In response, the Federal Government has now introduced a new “right to disconnect” into the Fair Work Act 2009.

Webinar RSVP

Event Details

Date
Tuesday 26 March 2024

Time
9.30 am – 10.30 am 

Location
Online via Zoom using your PC or mobile

For more information please contact our events team.

In our webinar, we will discuss how the employee’s right to disconnect and the employer’s obligation to manage psychosocial hazards intersect, and help you understand how to comply with your new obligations.

Your presenters for the session will be Anthony Massaro (Principal) and Kelly Ralph (Senior Associate). Our broader team of Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety lawyers will also assist with Q&A throughout the session.

Event website page here with more information.Please click on the button below to RSVP for the webinar

Webinar RSVP

Opportunity to submit your questions – Q&A

You have the opportunity to submit questions before the webinar. Please submit any questions to events@rk.com.au

Anthony Massaro
Principal

03 9609 1501
amassaro@rk.com.au

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Kelly Ralph
Senior Associate

03 9609 1510
kralph@rk.com.au

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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Key things to help you everyday Latest industry developments

Have some fun. Bring the proven joy of karaoke singing to your residents.

Have some fun. Bring the proven joy of karaoke singing to your residents with Mobydisc hire: $220 per event to $450 for one month.  Laugh and the world laughs with you!

Why not have some fun by hiring a Mobydisc jukebox for a resident event – Friday night drinks, Xmas in July, village birthday or just a party?

It is being taken up by villages across the country, creating happy residents who engage their family and friends. It’s also a great sales tool.

The jukeboxes arrive pre-loaded with 10, 000 songs and 2,000 karaoke songs (with lyrics) plus speakers, amp, flashing lights and two microphones to belt out the tunes.

Mobydisk can design special programs as well like ABBA nights, 50’s rock and more.

Mobydisc give residents the experience of a premium event without breaking the bank. Mobydisc charges only $220 for 24 hours of hire and also offers the option for you to hire the jukeboxes for a month for only $475.

To find out more call Mobydisc on 1800 100 606.

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What the research tells us

Private Vs Not For Profit villages – what do residents think?

One of the most common phone enquiries we get here at DoComeMonday Media is the question of whether Not For Profit villages are better than villages with Private operators.

We asked AOR to explore this in our villages.com.au National Resident Survey 2018, where we had 30 Private and 25 Not For Profit operators participate. Here is a direct quote from their report:

With an understanding now of the different segments, it is useful to compare the Private and Not For Profit sectors and how they fall out.

Residents living in Not For Profit villages are more likely to be in the ‘Couldn’t be happier’ segment, at 28% compared to 22% of those in Private villages.

This reflects the relatively higher proportion we saw earlier of residents who gave a rating of ’10 – very satisfied’. However, at the same time, Not For Profits also have a higher proportion in the ‘Generally unhappy’ segment, at 15% compared to 11% of those in Private villages.

This relatively higher polarisation suggests that where the Not For Profits deliver on the promise, they deliver well. But where the delivery falls short, the shortcomings are numerous.