Report showcases best-practice approaches to aged care

Keeping older people at the centre of all aspects of aged care is a key theme of feedback and recommendations collated in a new resource for providers.

The report is based on stakeholder discussions at nine workshops hosted by the sector’s regulatory body on 22 April. The workshops – each covering a specific topic – were held in the lead up to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s National Aged Care Provider Conference so that providers could discuss with commission executives and their peers best-practice approaches to aged care.

“Keeping older people at the centre of all aspects of care was a key theme across all workshops. From analysing data to clinical governance, workshop discussions highlighted that quality aged care is about providing care that is individual, respectful and delivered with kindness,” Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson told Community Care Review.

The workshops were an opportunity for providers to share their experiences of delivering aged care and catering for the different needs of older people. “Discussion encompassed different providers’ responses to their obligations, and how the commission approaches its regulatory responsibilities for both ensuring that providers understand what is expected of them, and holding them to account for their performance,” Ms Anderson said.

The outcomes of the workshops – and recommendations made – are detailed in a pre-conference workshops report released by the commission last week.

Based on participants’ input, the report reads: “Kindness and curiosity about the people in your care are key to delivering culturally safe care. Treating each person as an individual with a unique background and circumstances is crucial to providing care that is sensitive to a person’s cultural needs and life experience.”

Understanding an individual’s needs is particularly essential to providing quality care to people with dementia, say the report’s authors. “People living with dementia are not problems to be solved, they are people with problems that need solving. Understanding who a person is, their background, their experiences and their personal preferences will help staff to tailor strategies for effective care and behaviour support.”

Staff need to make a connection

Meaningful and authentic conversations were also identified by workshop participants as important. “Encouraging yarning, or storytelling, is recommended as a way to focus the narrative on the person receiving care and provide clues to a person’s care needs. Yarning encourages people to tell their story with story, as opposed to clinical questions,” reads the report.

When dealing with an older person affected by adverse events, workshop participants agreed that care workers need to deploy empathy, attention and respect. “Staff need to make a connection with the affected person, understand their concerns and experience, work with them to resolve the issue and take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Providing staff with the training and support they need to deliver high-quality care was another key point considered during the in-person workshops. Participants recognised the importance and the challenges of training staff in open disclosure methods. “There is still a variable use of open disclosure across the sector, partly because staff remain hesitant to admit fault when something goes wrong,” reads the report.

When caring for people with dementia, participants said staff need a general understanding of dementia. “Providing training and support to staff is important to make sure the care that they provide to people with dementia is effective and person-centred.”

Providers were encouraged to walk in the shoes of an older person

Addressing participants’ concerns about reporting serious incidents, the report reads: “In Serious Incident Response Scheme reporting, impact assessments are often inconsistent with the detailed description of the incident and don’t encourage person-centred care. Completing a SIRS report can become a task-oriented chore.”

When processing SIRS reports, workshop participants stressed the importance of forging an emotional connection with the older person affected. “Providers were encouraged to walk in the shoes of an older person to form a complete understanding of the impact of the incident and respond in a detailed, considered and empathetic way.”

When using data, participants said it was helpful to look at qualitative information – such as care notes – to inform decisions. “The data that aged care services collect should ultimately be about the experience of the person in care, shaping a story that can help turn information into insights,” reads the 28-page report.

Workshop participants also voiced the specific challenges facing providers in rural, remote and regional areas of the country, “particularly in relation to the recruitment and retention of workforce.”

Meeting governance requirements can also be difficult, “where engaging board members with the required skills is much harder than in metropolitan areas.”

Leaders set the tone for how a service operates

On the subject of governance, workshop participants discussed how to achieve best practice at an executive and board level. “Leaders set the tone for how a service operates and have a responsibility to understand their role in driving improvement in a service,” reads the report.

Board members need to understand their responsibilities, under both the Aged Care Act and other legislation. “They need to be curious and question management and ensure their questions are being answered in the reporting they receive.”

Among the recommendations for the commission: participants discussed specific areas where providers want more information and support. The commission also heard how it can improve its communications with individual providers and the wider sector.

Another series of provider workshops will run next year.

“It’s clear that there is strong interest in having more forums like these for the sector,” Ms Anderson told CCR. “We are committed to using the insights gained and feedback provided from across the workshops, ensuring that we continue to support providers in delivering high-quality care.”

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