BIHC NEWSLETTER SEP 2023

FEEDBACK ON YOUR FEEDBACK

Firstly, we would like to thank you for the feedback you provide us. It is very important. It comes to us in a variety of ways:

Conversations
an important way for us to find out from you how everything is going. These may be general conversations or more specific at reviews.

Complaints
are critical to us for continuous improvement.

Compliments
a way that we know things are going well and an opportunity to thank the person receiving the compliment for their good work.

Satisfaction Surveys
provides an overview of the service you receive from your perspective, where we are doing well, where we can improve and allows us to provide important information to you where we see some gaps.

Communication
is the key to receive the support you need in the way that is important to you.

We would like to provide you with some trending analysis of the data from our complaints and compliments register, our incident register and from the satisfaction survey.

COMPLIMENTS

During the months from April to the end of June, we received 84 compliments from you. The majority of these were for

Support Workers,

Cleaning Companies,

Care Coordinator and Regional Coordinator.

We thanked each person who received a compliment from you for the service they provided.
See our client testimonials.

COMPLAINTS

We received 5 complaints during this period.

Unable to purchase excluded items (2 complaints of this type)
and our communication around this.

Unhappy with a third party service - cleaning company

Unhappy with a support worker service

Unhappy a service time could not be changed with short notice

We are aware there has been some disappointment since the Department of Health released their updated operational manual and their subsequent release of the Frequently Asked Questions fact sheet around purchases in April 2023.

We sent to you a copy of the consumer operational manual in January. We also updated the inclusions and exclusions information in the latest home care agreement.

Care Coordinators are there to guide you on the use of funds and how to maximise these in accordance with the guidelines.

Please reach out to your Care Coordinator or Regional Coordinator if you have questions regarding use of your home care package funds.

We take your feedback very seriously when we engage third parties to provide you a service. Please continue to let us know if you are happy with any third-party services. All complaints were resolved and closed.

We received no complaints or compliments from our NDIS participants and this may partly be due to low participant numbers.

INCIDENTS

We have had a slight decline in incidents this period and the majority of incidents continues to be falls when a support worker is not present. Falls are also the leading cause of hospitalisation with equal admissions due to COVID-19.

We put in place as many strategies as possible to minimise the risk of falls including physiotherapy, occupational therapy to identify risks in the home, personal alert devices, falls prevention classes and equipment.

There has been a decline in new wounds and pressure injuries recorded this period from 3.3% to 1.2% of clients. There is nothing we have introduced to account for this decline as we continue, as always, to risk assess and offer equipment as appropriate. Preventative measures are put in place at onboarding and reviews.

SATISFACTION SURVEY

We sent out a satisfaction survey to all HCP recipients and NDIS participants in March/April this year and received 23 responses, 21 from HCP clients or advocates and 2 from NDIS participants or advocates. Thank you to those who took the time to answer these questions.

The common theme from these surveys is that people are not sure about having a complaints contact at Bannister In Home Care or who to contact if you are unhappy with the way we handled your complaint.

A complaints contact is someone you choose from Bannister In Home Care who you feel comfortable talking to. You may have a particular person you would like to nominate from our organisation, or you may have no preference. The important part of this is that you are aware you have this choice.

If you are unhappy with the way we managed a complaint you can contact the:

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission if you have a Home Care Package – call 1800 951 822

Or

NDIS Quality Safeguards Commission if you have an NDIS Package – 1800 035 544

You will find this information in both your home file and your agreement. Please let us know if you would like us to send you a copy.

The majority of clients responded positively throughout the survey towards BIHC as a provider, particularly that we are reliable and safe, happy with our Care/Regional Coordinators and our communication.

People responded equally in the survey that they were confident their information was kept private and that they were unsure or hoped it was. 

Your rights include the right to personal privacy and to have your personal information protected. This is very important to us.

There was a little confusion on some of the questions where we referred to staff. These questions could be more descriptive and we will review the survey to make it clearer in future.

We would like to take this opportunity again to thank you for the conversations we have and the valuable feedback you provide to us.

 Kind regards

Helen and the
Bannister In Home Care Team