Conversations and Afternoon Tea West Coast Homecare has held four ‘Conversations’ and afternoon tea meetings during the first half of this year. Meetings were held in Port Lincoln, Tumby Bay, Cleve and Cummins. A total of 80 consumers along with staff and board members attended the meetings. Consumer engagement is an important part of our business and helps us to get to know consumers and their needs better. We use these opportunities to share information about the organisation, the services we provide and the Aged Care and Disability Sector. We encourage consumers attending to discuss concerns, issues and provide to feedback to assist us with our service improvement. During this round of Consumer Engagement meetings, we presented information about the new Aged Care Code of Conduct and Dignity of Risk and how we balance these with our Duty of Care. Small group discussions were held to explore these issues and how they support and ensure the provision of quality care services to consumers. Following the more formal part of the meeting, we moved onto the social afternoon tea and a bit of fun. Lucky door prizes are always a popular feature at these events. Prizes include gift vouchers to purchase goods from local businesses or to participate in a local event or activity. Summary of the Consumer feedback and comments following these meetings included: • specific individual homecare service issues were raised and referred to Homecare Coordinators for follow-up. • compliments for Community Care Workers and their quality of work and their caring attitude. • appreciation for locally based offices ++ “Face to face better than phone”. • thanks for ‘Conversations’ events. Consumers appreciate the updates and like to meet staff, the CEO, and Board members. They enjoy the afternoon tea and social interaction. • feedback that those with hearing problems - can’t always hear the presentations properly or engage in the table discussions. • Name tags for consumers would be a good idea. Cummins Conversations Meeting Port Lincoln Conversations Meeting Important diary dates! Get ready for our big annual event coming to a town near you soon! More fun and frivolous behaviour – as well as tiny bit of serious annual reporting! Port Lincoln Wednesday 18th October 2023 Cleve Tuesday 31st October 2023 Tumby Bay Thursday 9th November 2023 Cummins Thursday 30th November 2023 All meetings will be held from 1:30pm to 4:00pm with afternoon tea. Invitations confirming venues will be sent out closer to the dates! As an approved provider of Aged Care Services, West Coast Homecare has an obligation to establish a new Consumer Advisory to support and inform our Board of Management. The Consumer Advisory provides valuable feedback to the governing body and gives consumers a voice. West Coast Homecare must formally approach our consumers at least every 12 months to offer to revise and or improve the current advisory body arrangements. This ensures that any changes in the care and services provided, or the advisory body membership or needs of members, are considered and addressed at least annually. We can have more than one consumer advisory body depending on consumer interest and West Coast Homecare needs. Our “Conversations” Consumer Engagement gatherings are already in place to engage and seek feedback and we will develop the Consumer Advisory body as an extension of these forums with feedback used to inform our Board of Management. We will talk with Consumers about how they can be involved at our next round of “Conversations” Consumer Engagement Forums. We look forward to Consumer involvement to develop the new Consumer Advisory across our region. Consumer Advisory Committee CONVERSATIONS 2
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