Reimagining aged care roles —  a new collaborative approach

St Basil’s SA, in partnership with Griffith University, is developing a new ‘staff matrix’ that aims to create a more engaged and sustainable aged care workforce.

With the population continuing to age, the demand for aged care services is only set to increase. As we know, the aged care workforce is already at a crisis point, with increasing job demands and high staff turnovers impacting our ability to meet the standards of aged care expected by the community.

It is essential that aged care workers are equipped with the skills and support they need to provide high-quality care into the future. To do this we need to think and work differently, so that’s where this new project comes in.

How it started

Before COVID changed our lives, we had already commenced our journey of reimagining aged care. We had consulted with staff, residents and families with an intention to ‘think outside of the square’ to develop a new model of care with a holistic focus, so our residents could live a life that was more meaningful to them.

What we already knew

• Care was siloed between clinical, carer, lifestyle and hospitality teams.
• Aged care traditionally has a particularly flat management structure.
• Care was still predominantly based on a medical model.
• Living in a smaller homelike environment promotes improved resident experience and outcomes.

What we learned during COVID

• Good teamwork is critical when working under pressure.
• Effective leadership means leading teams and empowering team members, rather than micromanaging staff with a task focus.
• Staff need to be valued and feel safe in the workplace.
• Staff and residents need leaders who really care about them.
   

COVID also gave us the opportunity to really reflect on our model of care. We used the 2018 report ‘A Matter of Care: Australia’s Aged Care Workforce Strategy’ to guide us and determined that leadership and teamwork were the foundations for successful organisations. This meant we needed to rethink our organisational structure to support a new sustainable leadership model.

The goal was to move to a more homelike model of care for our residents. To achieve this, we started on the journey of challenging what had always been done and by whom. We aimed at reducing reliance on clinical professionals taking responsibility for everything that happened across any given day and acknowledging that there were many tasks that could be managed effectively by non-clinical leaders. We also wanted to provide better support to our carers, by allocating them a dedicated leader to guide and support them, and ensure they felt part of the team.

What inspired the development of new staff matrix

Job roles in aged care have remained fairly consistent without any major disruption or change; however, the Royal Commission into Aged Care and documents such as the 2018 workforce strategy report, suggest that we need to change. 

Because we were doing something different by implementing new leadership roles, we needed to dispel longstanding perceptions of role responsibility in aged care. This meant developing an evidence-based ‘role matrix’ underpinned by good clinical governance, and safe quality care principles. This could then be used to give permission to change traditional job roles and support recruitment into the sector.

Project rollout and outcomes

The project is already underway, with staff from Griffith University visiting our sites in June and July to chat with and observe our team working, and conduct initial surveys with staff, residents and families.

This will be followed by a series of workshops with staff, residents, and families to co-design the staff matrix. Once finalised, a four-month trial will be implemented and evaluated, before the matrix is rolled out via an IT platform across our organisation.

We are hoping that implementation of the matrix will:   

• Improve role clarity for staff and better career progression opportunities.
• Reduce workplace stress and staff intention to leave their job.
• Improve the quality of care provided to our residents.
• Improve staff, residents and residents’ families’ general satisfaction with care.
   

The collaboration will enable us to progress our vision of creating an engaged workforce that challenges the status quo and improves the quality of service to the residents in our care.

*Michelle Church is a passionate leader who is committed to creating a sustainable shift in the way that we care for and respect our elders. She recognises the vital role that relationships play in supporting our elders to live well and has been instrumental in creating a leadership culture that is underpinned by the simple but powerful values of courtesy and kindness. Church’s connected leadership style is underpinned by a strong operational and finance background across a broad range of sectors that include agriculture, small business, education and of course aged care.

Top image credit: iStockphoto.com/Diy13