Lindsey OGrady, Senior Catering Operations Specialist
With over 75 per cent of aged care chefs reporting staffing shortages, benchmarked award rates may no longer be enough. Chef Lindsey O’Grady explores why providers must look beyond internal aged care pay comparisons to compete with the wider labour market.
Latest News
Building the bridge to reshape First Nations aged care
Interim First Nations Aged Care Commissioner Jodi Cassar brings more than two decades of public service experience to one of aged care’s newest roles, sharing why listening, cultural safety and community partnerships are essential to creating meaningful, lasting reform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Aged care’s data problem is starting to find its fix
Three hours of a shift gone to paperwork — before a single resident is checked on. As documentation eats into aged care nursing time, new tools like Kinnexus and BESTMED IQ are trying to hand some of that time back to care.
Marion Piper, Contributor
Providers are drowning in data, and for what?
A promise made when the National Quality Indicator Program launched is being quietly broken, industry data specialists say – with resident-level scrutiny, uncosted reporting demands, and no performance data flowing back to providers.
Marion Piper, Contributor
New acting head, Kate Pope, confirmed for aged care’s independent oversight body
Kate Pope PSM has taken over as acting Inspector-General of Aged Care, bringing 35 years of public sector experience to the role while government recruits a permanent appointee.
Marion Piper, Contributor
Why retirement village resident experience now must extend beyond the village
Retirement villages are evolving beyond lifestyle communities into key enablers of ageing in place. Through partnerships, resident feedback and early intervention, operators are helping older Australians navigate changing support needs while improving resident experience and long-term wellbeing.
Yvette Willison, Content Writer
Contributors
Rise Up Group - Senior Catering Operations Specialist
"Lindsey O’Grady is a chef and aged care hospitality specialist with 40 years’ experience."
Hayley Campbell - Content Writer
"Hayley Campbell is a mental health and healthcare copywriter who believes the best stories start with people."
Yvette Willison - Content Writer
"Yvette is an avid storyteller with a working knowledge base in the Allied Health, Disability and Aged Care sectors."
Atlas McNeil - National Clinical and Training Manager
"Lesley Barton is the National Clinical and Training Manager at Bunzl & Atlas McNeil Healthcare Community, with over 40 years of healthcare experience."
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News
Aged care reforms haven’t fixed staffing, survey finds
Marion Piper, Contributor A union survey of 3,550 frontline workers finds understaffing, rising violence and unexplained funding gaps persisting under the Aged Care Act reforms – raising fresh governance questions about how providers are spending taxpayer funding.
Standardised failure: how the new NDIS bill sacrifices participants for budget repair
Marion Piper, Contributor As NDIS reforms repeat the design flaws of aged care’s algorithmic funding failures, Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess warns that providers will bear the fallout of standardised models that sacrifice individual needs for budget repair.
Why KPMG’s whistleblower failure should concern every aged care provider
Marion Piper, Contributor Following KPMG’s high-profile whistleblower governance failure, Australian aged care directors face heightened scrutiny. Under the new Aged Care Act, leaders can be personally fined up to $165,000 for non-compliant reporting systems, even if the organisation itself escapes regulatory action.
Support at Home’s biggest test: Can government turn reform promises into real-world care access?
Lauren Liao, Contributor A survey of older Australians has highlighted growing frustration with Support at Home, revealing challenges around waiting times, complexity, provider availability and out-of-pocket costs.
Why aged care’s IAT human override could become the next bottleneck
Lauren Liao, Contributor OPAN’s CEO Craig Gear warns the IAT’s human override could recreate the bottleneck it’s meant to fix. With three changes in weeks and Minister Rae unable to confirm trigger criteria or timeframes, boards need to start managing the internal exposure themselves.
Navigating the new horizon: Australia’s first cross-setting quality framework
Lauren Liao, Contributor This new cross-setting framework gives aged care leaders an evidence-based blueprint to measure quality across the entire continuum of care, helping organisations bridge the gap between health services and residential settings to deliver truly integrated, person-centred outcomes.
The Arcare story is about yesterday. The bigger story is what’s next.
Lauren Liao, Contributor While the headlines have focused on allegations surrounding additional service fees via HELF, the more important question for boards and executives is whether the sector has fully understood what the new Aged Care Act is asking providers to become.
Topic
The gap isn’t in the kitchen. It’s in the system around it.
As the numbers behind the 2026 Aged Care Kitchen Pulse Survey come into sharper focus, Lindsey O’Grady says the sector is facing something bigger than a staffing or budget problem: a structural one.
Solar initiatives shine on – sustainability in aged care shifts ESG strategy to operational resilience
As boardrooms ramp up discussions to meet rising aged care costs, providers are increasingly needing to adapt. Green initiatives, such as Mercy Health’s recently completed national solar project, are showing that ESG strategies can be key pivot points in securing operational resilience.
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