TasCOSS News August 2014
An informal training session for participants in Tasmania’s first Graduate Certificate in Consumer Engagement.
er engagement program has worked over the past five years to increase consumer input into planning, service delivery and evaluation.
• What will consumers say about us? • Who is the Gateway’s preferred provider? • Can family members or carers access all information about what our service does in a transparent and highly userfriendly way online, prior to making a phone call to us? “It is critical that consumers, family members can access all information on the web,” one Australian provider said. “Is our website, all IT and call-in processes reflective of positive engagement, choice, and a new focus on consumer delight?” Person-centred care can support transitioning to CDC. Person-centred care approaches recognise and focus on understanding and respecting consumers' values, preferences and their expressed needs. Essential to person-centred care is the recognition of the client as an individual, with the capacity for and interest in self-actualisation and self-reliance. The role of person-centred care was recognised in the KPMG evaluation. Providers who had experience with this were able to accommodate CDC changes and were more responsive to new or innovative requests.
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A Victorian provider who presented at the CDC Aged Care Conference illustrated how cultural change was supported by
the delivery of PCC training to support workers and case coordinators.
Case management
The role of direct care or support workers is significantly important to working in an empowering, enabling way with consumers in CDC. Case co-ordinators in progressive organisations are given new titles reflective of a change in culture and service approach: they are called ‘facilitators’. The practice of case management is being replaced, along the lines of consumer engagement goals, with partnership plans. Providers’ understanding and practice of consumer engagement can play a significant part in assisting management and staff teams to gradually shift towards equal partnerships. The TasCOSS HACC Consum-
This year the program facilitated the delivery of nationally accredited consumer engagement training for the first time in Tasmania. One innovative aspect of the program has been the utilisation of an enhanced narrative inquiry approach: the careful facilitation of all participants’ experiences and stories in the form of short video clips. In both change management and service/program delivery narrative inquiry has been shown to be an effective support, evaluation and communication tool. Good consumer engagement also acknowledges that it is ultimately not what you do but the quality of relationships you create with consumers and the experience you deliver that delights both consumers and staff involved. More involved, happier customers and staff also often experience new levels of social interactivity and social health benefits. Everyone wins.
Resources KPMG Evaluation of the Consumer Directed Care Initiative final report (2012), Department of Health and Ageing Increasing consumer choice in aged care services: a position paper (February 2009), Carmel Laragy and Gerry Naughtin, Brotherhood of St Laurence TasCOSS Consumer Engagement Literature Review: Good Practice Approaches and Pilot Projects in HACC in Tasmania (2012), Tasmanian Council of Social Service TasCOSS 2014 HACC Consumer Engagement Report: Program Participant Experiences and Stories (2014), Tasmanian Council of Social Service