Improving board governance with compliance technology

Findings from Ideagen CompliSpace’s recent aged care report highlights the challenge for many aged care providers across Australia, with the workload increasing for many workers since the introduction of COVID-19 regulations (94% experiencing an increase) and the 2019 Aged Care Quality Standards (85% experiencing an increase).

Now more than ever it is important for providers to adopt tools to support workers so they can manage an increasing barrage of paperwork and ongoing compliance obligations.

The Willochra Home – a Residential Aged Care facility in South Australia – explains how their use of Ideagen CompliSpace helps them meet accreditation requirements and stay on top of changes, including the Aged Care Quality Standards, to focus instead on the care they provide to residents.

For HR Officer Stephanie Dunning and Admin Officer Bonny Hill, Ideagen CompliSpace has helped transform their policy management and compliance practices for both the Home and their Board.

“CompliSpace has helped with better reporting for Board and Governance meetings – it really has been a great improvement, especially as we are a small aged care facility and do not have an ample amount of admin staff. It has decreased the workload and stress on our admin team dramatically,” Ms Hill said.

Prior to Ideagen CompliSpace, the Home was spending hundreds of hours, at an admin and Board level, updating, researching, and approving policies to meet the changing Standards. The Home now
has policies approved within days, helping streamline the approval process for both their admin team and Board.

The Home estimated previously it took 2-3 months each year to review, update and approve policies alone, including gathering information from different peak industry bodies and time and money spent on lawyers.

“We would spend hundreds of hours on policies, which would be sent off to the Board to read through and approve. It was taking up not only our hours, but Board hours to keep policies up to date, not including everything else,” Ms Dunning explained.

“Once it took 6 months to receive a policy back. Having CompliSpace I can just send off the updates to the Resident Care Manager to read and approve, and then pass on to the Board, so they are aware of the policy updates. They don’t have to approve the policies anymore because it’s legislated.”

Improving Board Governance

With the support of Ideagen CompliSpace, the Home keeps their Board informed through updated policies and supporting resources.

“I send through everything CompliSpace provides so they have the information they need for their Board meetings to ensure they are compliant with the new legislation for Boards. They are constantly updated on everything to meet their obligations – our Board even sends information to the Board above us, then to the Bishop, so everything goes from us to the top,” Ms Hill said.

The Home have also used Ideagen CompliSpace to identify gaps, establish systems for continuous improvement, and implement better reporting for Board and governance meetings, along with establishing better education practices.

“At the start we identified we weren’t reporting properly to the Board and there were a lot of things that were missing. It helped us establish a clinical governance board which works alongside our Board, and the Board above them. We can prove what we’re doing, as well as improve. Our Board loves it, and they also provide feedback on audits that can become part of our CI Program,” Ms Dunning said.

“Every part of HR, reporting, auditing, and anything to do with paperwork we’ve improved on in leaps and bounds. And everything is in one place. We can log in to see the status of all forms and registers – I can then say straight to the Board what has been done and show them what we’ve done. Our incident forms, reporting and investigations are now faster and comprehensive, which means we can instantly and accurately report to the Board and management.”

About Ideagen CompliSpace

Ideagen is a global company that helps the quiet voices and safe hands that protect organisations to minimise the risk, strengthen compliance and keep people safe. CompliSpace is Ideagen’s SaaS
enabled solution to help highly regulated industries meet governance, risk, compliance and policy management obligations.

If you would like to learn more about Ideagen CompliSpace for aged care providers, visit https://www.complispace.com.au/agedcare.