Category: Latest industry developments

You may be aware that there has been a strong push for retirement villages to be included in the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into aged care.

The risk for retirement villages in being part of the Royal Commission is the public will be further confused – what is the difference between aged care homes and retirement villages?

In the media the push has been led by the Fairfax journalist Adele Ferguson with the backing of the Consumer Advocacy Law Centre in Victoria.

Four of the state resident associations have made submissions requesting the same.

The outcome they primarily want is to establish a retirement village ombudsman, either through the federal government or the individual state governments.

Word on the street is that Canberra is saying ‘no’, it will not include retirement villages. Aged care is a big enough subject on its own.

The only area that villages will be touched is around home care – which is obviously delivered in villages.

‘Care’ is now established as a buzzword in the retirement village sector.

Delivering care services into villages is now a major service to residents.

But is it a turn-on or a turn-off as a marketing tool to potential residents?

Research shows that people living in their own homes do not want ‘care’ delivered into their homes; they want ‘support’.

‘Care’ refers to services to people who really can’t look after themselves – they need care.

‘Support’ means I am okay, but I wouldn’t mind a bit of a hand occasionally.

Here in NSW, UnitingCare, one of our largest home care providers (and residential care providers) changed its name simply to Uniting two years ago because its customers said they found receiving support services from UnitingCare belittling.

Now online ‘care support’ disruptor Better Caring has picked up on this message, changing its name to Mable.

Peter Scutt, co-founder and CEO of Mable said feedback from the Better Caring community drove the decision to rebrand: “Since the beginnings of Better Caring, we’ve been hearing from those in our community who have said our previous name made us sound like a traditional care provider rather than a bold innovator. And many people in our community didn’t need care, rather they wanted support to live independently and be included”.

It makes sense and the name Mable sure is a lot more uplifting.

What do you think? And will you be marketing ‘care’ or ‘support’?

In our travels, we meet a lot of village managers who have not experienced the new breed of manufactured homes. They are wondering what all the fuss is about.

Why are people thinking of them as a competitor to retirement villages? Aren’t the homes made in a factory and placed in a caravan park?

First up the modern ‘manufactured home park’ is now being called a ‘land lease community’.

In fact, in most states the legislation is adopting this title because it explains the contract better. (You own your home but lease the land it stands on – like a caravan).

The important thing for village managers to understand is that LLCs are doing two things.

The first is grabbing the traditional market for retirement villages, being ‘affordable housing’. Most retirement village homes are now $350,000 and more.

A new LLC home can be as low as $225,000 and older LLC homes are nearly always in the mid-$200K field or even lower.

The second is the homes are no longer always built in a factory. They can be built on site and still comply with regulations for being ‘removable’ if they can be split up and taken away.

We went to the launch of Ingenia’s Latitude One development in Port Stephens, north of Newcastle, last Saturday. See the photos.

They are big – up to 200 m². They are still reasonably affordable, ranging from around $350,000 to $550,000. And they are built on a slab – not raised on posts.

LLCs target a younger market than retirement villages, emphasising lifestyle. They have big community and support facilities. And most don’t have a DMF.

For operators, the resident owns her own home and are responsible for its maintenance. As a village manager, you will recognise this benefit.

It is still early days for LLCs. There are about 300 serious locations across the country with about 20 operators, compared to 2,000 retirement villages and 600+ operators.

But as a village manager, you will hear more about them, especially if you are in a regional location or on the outer Metro fringe.

Bullying is now accepted as a real phenomenon affecting all people, including employees and residents of retirement villages.

Employees can bully each other and the residents. And residents can certainly bully employees.

Leading Victorian lawyers in the village sector Russell Kennedy have put together a fact sheet on how to prepare for bullying.

Check it out HERE.

Needless to say there are procedures.

Staff need to know that bullying is unacceptable, and how to make a complaint if they experience bullying.

Managers need to know how to recognise and prevent workplace bullying, and what to do if they receive a complaint. And how to make a complaint.

Policies and training will assist you to reduce your risk of a bad outcome, claims for workers’ compensation or a Fair Work Commission bullying process.