Captaining your journey in aged and community care,under the 1 November 2025 changes

Aged care provision is not for the faint of heart. Working hard to deliver quality care, aged care providers have been unappreciated, undercompensated, and largely treated as a quasi ‘public servant appointee.’

The challenges to sustaining a smooth journey as a provider, and delivering services to the aged and disabled in our community, seem to be ever-increasing. Senior Australians deserve and need dedicated, professional, sympathetic, and available services; yet the difficulties faced by providers are often overlooked and misunderstood by key stakeholders. e-Tools Software has been in this space for years and knows firsthand the challenges to be overcome. 

To be resilient in this highly regulated sector, where expectations and oversight are extensive, is a challenge posed to all providers, made even more difficult by the “absentee landlord” approach of Government. When oversight stems from those not daily managing the difficulties of aged care provision, the determination and administering of regulations, management overview and funding of all these programmes can be inefficient and ineffective.

Provider challenges are multi-faceted, with complexity, accountability, delivery constraints, staffing shortages, insufficient funding, legislative compliance, communication overload, restricted resource allocation and more. Compounding these challenges is that aged care and NDIS sectors operate in a dynamic environment where high-performing providers have little control to steer regulatory oversight.

The recent changes to Residential Aged Care, Home Care/Support at Home and Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) is a clear example of this. NDIS too has needed to navigate considerable changes.

The Department, likely using their full staff resource, wrestled with updates for at least 24 months. The New Act, in introducing a raft of changes and modifications to programmes that in isolation would be a challenge, but in being implemented simultaneously on the same day, has created the potential for overwhelming change for providers who have always striven to comply.

What is required of all providers is a strong implementation team, both internal and external, to contribute to the navigation of the new requirements. Trust and confidence in support structures is essential to allow management to approach this level of change, to ensure consumers and clients still receive a continuation of quality care under the new requirements, even while they are being implemented and “bedded down.” 

Early preparation and confidence in systems are vital to moderating such a significant change process, mitigating the risk of overwhelming issues. It is critical that provider management consult and engage with support system teams that are relied on to assist with a smooth transition.

Along with early intervention and clear communication with your internal implementation team, add value and resilience by seeking support from your essential external support organisations. While not part of your internal management team, they should be included in part of your planning and discussions. Many providers have reinforced compliance systems from external support organisations in the navigation of this challenging journey. This includes your software, IT support, consulting and training providers. 

Often external specialists, who have extensive experience in the field providing broad support across the industry, have different and complementary perspectives to deliver options and input, assisting with avoiding issues and streamlining the transition.

Seeking their support and building good relationships with them is worthwhile, but don’t take a back seat approach. External specialists offer a means and a pathway for your destination, but you know your business best and need to plot and pilot your own course. Without a captain steering towards a planned course, there is risk of encountering major issues along the way or going off course.

When you engage with external specialists, gauge their ability to support you in meeting the Government-directed deadlines. While you need to be reassured that they are on track for the 1 November 2025 changes, understanding the industry-wide lift to meet the upcoming changes is impacting all and that they too, have to deal with a plethora of unexpected changes and information that is still being released by Government.

Have open conversations with your external specialists and ask for evidence of the following:

• Their knowledge of the changes that impact their services or systems, and the flow-on effects to you as a provider
• Progress or status on the changes to be made to their services or systems
• A roadmap that includes post 1 November 2025 planning
• Information security measures they have taken to protect your data
• Will they be ready on time – their readiness is key to your success.

Given the demands sector-wide in this process, particularly time, earlier dialogue is advisable. Having conversations sooner means securing additional input that can help make the difference between experiencing significant difficulties or a smoother journey with less turbulence.Develop trust relationships and ensure you deal only with specialists who are ready – they can make all the difference to your journey and your success. e-Tools Software is well and truly ready, so contact them regarding Residential Care, Support at Home and CHSP software solutions.

Visit e.tools.com.au for more information.