How admin efficiency affords more one-to-one care time
Emma Clark GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
Hello Leaders - Marketing Manager
Last updated on 21 June 2023
The National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program) has been expanded since April 2023 to include new reporting obligations for aged care facilities and services. The program, which endeavours to use industry data to improve quality of services provided to care recipients, requires quarterly data submissions from approved providers of residential aged care.
The quality indicators which launched in July 2019 cover a range of recipient health and wellbeing measures, including the incidence of injuries, falls, medication management, physical restraint, and unplanned weight loss. From April the expanded indicators now include;
- Activities of daily living
- Incontinence care
- Hospitalisation
- Workforce
- Consumer experience
- Quality of life
The program no doubt contributes a wealth of important information which can be collated and anonymised to provide robust benchmarks for care across Australia, but also forms a valuable database of data from which legislative and regulatory decisions can be made.
But the program is not without criticism, most commonly from the aged care industry itself who recognise the value of reporting on quality indicators but say the reality is that time spend on reporting and administration takes time away from providing quality care to residents. It is a complaint shared across the aged care industry – that anything that takes staff time away from direct care, needs to be mandated with caution.
Adam Holcroft, General Manager of QPS Benchmarking understands the challenges faced by residential aged care providers very well. “It’s not easy to meet all of the requirements” Adam says. “It’s a careful balance to run a compliant business, turn adequate profit and deliver the quality care minutes your residents need” he continues.
It is this recognition of the challenges faced by the industry that informs the work done by QPS Benchmarking. The business is known for its industry benchmarking software – their benchmarking reports allow users to compare themselves to industry standards and their competitors in order to understand how they are performing in the market.
QPS Benchmarking provides a valuable resource for those in the industry who may have an issue with accreditation or any other quality standard, as they can not only understand where they sit in relation to the industry standards, but also understand the gap between their own performance and that of the industry leaders, and how to bridge it.
“We provide a dashboard of dials (data) so you’re not driving a car with no idea if you have fuel or no fuel” explains Adam. “It’s our mission to find and promote excellence, to champion the best providers in the industry, and set a goal for everyone else to strive for” he says.
But QPS Benchmarking have found their focus shift in recent times, with the significance of the QI Program creating the need for an efficient and user-friendly tool for providers to fulfil their reporting requirements. “We’ve moved from an era of excellent to one of compliance” explains Adam. “We’re now focusing more time on building tools to help people meet specific goals.”
QPS Benchmarking provides support and a digital tool for the QI Program that allows providers to provide the data to the Department of Health and Aged Care exactly as stated in the requirements. The tool can be accessed via a user-friendly interface on a device such as an iPad, making data entry as convenient as possible for time-poor facility staff.
Adam believes this is the new phase of QPS Benchmarking and what the business will be known for in the next few years: Exceptional tools that allow providers to function and meet their reporting standards with ease.
The business has a highly skilled and passionate team providing the expertise and support for their products, and at the core of their mission is to improve the standards of care in the aged care industry. “The reason why we exist is to provide support for those who are proving the day-to-day care” explains Adam. “We need to look after them, to care for the carers, to ensure they can deliver the standards of care our older populations deserve and expect. Our carers can so often be a forgotten part of the equation.”
It is this commitment to providing quality care that is shared not only by residential care providers but also by the businesses supporting them that underpins the mission of the aged care industry. Businesses like QPS Benchmarking recognise the value in initiatives like the QI Program, but also understand the pressures aged care staff are under day to day. By striving to streamline processes and make mandatory reporting more easy, they are supporting the industry as a whole.