Residential Aged Care

Our residential aged care operations team look after 725 residents and employs over 1,100 people who provide a diverse range of services and care.

Clinical excellence

Work on enhancing our clinical governance, following an external clinical review, has been a key focus this year.

This external review meant we were able to respond quickly to a sanction from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission for our Madeley residential aged care home in early 2021.

Since the sanction, and drawing on the results of our external review, we have undertaken a thorough assessment of clinical governance and practice and have strengthened the way we work on our sites. This has included continence charting and assessment, a review of care planning and pain charting and assessment. Education on clinical leadership including delegation, prioritisation, care planning, prevention strategies, incident management, acute deterioration and delirium has also been implemented for Registered and Enrolled Nurses.

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

With the handing down of the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and then the Federal Budget in May 2021, we have completed preparatory work to plan for changes to staffing ratios and the availability of clinical staff.

Residential aged care expansion

As part of our expansion of residential aged care, we have commenced construction on our new aged care home, research centre and head office in Inglewood, which will be known as Brightwater Central.

Brightwater Central will be a vibrant, intergenerational campus incorporating both the existing aged care home, The Village, plus a 128-bedroom residential aged care community based on the small house model of care.

Each small house within the facility will be home to just 16 residents.

The Music Pharmacy

Brightwater’s Music Pharmacy is an allied health program which delivers a range of music therapy and music engagement services to meet the health and wellbeing needs, goals and preferences of aged care clients living in residential care homes and at home. In November 2020, we celebrated The Music Pharmacy officially being rolled out at across all of our residential aged care homes.

Since The Music Pharmacy was launched we have:

• Facilitated 113 Waltz Into Life training workshops, upskilling 604 employees to use evidence-based music techniques that optimise care and wellbeing. • Received over 500 client referrals.

• Facilitated more than 610 group music therapy sessions. • Facilitated nearly 600 individual music therapy sessions. • Created and embedded into care plans more than 150 personalised music playlists. • Delivered music experiences in more than 10 languages to support and identify preferences of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) clients. • Created nearly 20 ‘DIY’ or follow along music therapy sessions that could be facilitated by Therapy

Assistants during times of COVID-19 lockdown. • Delivered more than 30 client concerts, special events and community presentations. • Facilitated 20 Maestro buddy shifts.

PainChek

In May 2021, we rolled out the PainChek app across residential aged care. The smartphone and tablet-based app is a simple and reliable way for our staff to assess pain levels in our residents who are unable to communicate what they are experiencing, using facial recognition software. By better assessing pain, we can then manage it more effectively – improving our residents’ overall wellbeing, comfort and health. Pain is a major contributor to behaviours of concern and falls, so we anticipate improvements in these areas for our residents.

Wellbeing and Behaviour Policy

In August 2020, we launched the Wellbeing and Behaviour Policy suite – an evidence-based and sector-leading approach to support our residents to live their best lives. Built off the premise that a person’s wellbeing is as important as their physical health, and that all behaviour is an expression of a person’s wellbeing status, our approach starts with understanding the person deeply. Focusing on wellbeing in a positive way; building good reporting habits and skills; and utilising the whole care team to contribute to developing thorough plans to support a resident’s wellbeing, is central to the new process.

Leisure, Lifestyle and Activity Program

As part of meeting our residential aged care resident’s wellbeing needs, we have introduced a contemporary, evidence-based process to design and deliver personalised leisure, lifestyle and therapy activities. Our occupational therapists, physiotherapists and therapy assistants collaborate to identify residents’ preferences and goals, and then create an activity schedule that suits. We have moved away from programming activities such as big group or ‘entertainment’ type offerings, to programs that our residents prefer to engage in, improving these sessions based on regular self-evaluation.

Meet Virginia, resident of The Oaks

Virginia helped make history in 2021. On 24 February 2021 she was Brightwater’s first client to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. When asked about the vaccine, Virginia said it was an easy decision for her to have it.

“I felt it was important to make sure I had it, not so much for my own health, but to make sure I couldn’t pass it onto others, getting the vaccine is a way we can make sure we protect each other,” she said.

“In my lifetime, vaccines have made a huge impact, for example polio is no longer an issue for us because of vaccines, and hopefully the outcome will be the same for COVID-19. If enough people get vaccinated this could eventually become a disease people no longer have to be worried about.”

Economic and Social Impact Report

Brightwater worked with 11 other leading WA aged care providers and consultant firm ACIL Allen to release a report on the Economic & Social Impact of Aged Care in WA. The report was launched a Business News breakfast event, with Brightwater CEO Jennifer Lawrence the keynote speaker.

The report found that the aged care industry in Western Australia was responsible for: • 1 in every 7 dollars of gross production in the

Healthcare and Social Assistance sector.

• 1 in every 25 FTE jobs across Western

Australia in 2019/20. (More than the total number of people directly employed by Rio

Tinto, BHP, FMG and Woodside combined). • 3 times the total economic activity produced by the Arts and Recreation sector, half the

Retail trade sector and a quarter the

Construction sector.

• More jobs in total than the total number of full-time jobs that have been created in

Western Australia over the past 4 years. • An additional 21,532 full time jobs, which equates to an additional 179 jobs every month for the next 10 years.