Bronwyn Morris-Donovan

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission issuing record fines and banning orders A strengthened NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (the NDIS Commission) is taking action against unscrupulous providers doing the wrong thing by NDIS participants and issuing a record number of fines at $4 million and penalties in 2023–24, which sees a six-fold increase on the previous year. This crackdown is a direct result of the Albanese Government’s investment of $142.6 million in 2023-24 to bolster the NDIS Commission’s workforce from 595 to 1,036, an almost doubling in size. Improvements are reflected in the NDIS Commission’s 2023-24 Annual Report, which records the regulator’s year on year actions: 111,345 complaints and reportable incidents, an increase of 78 per cent on the same period last year, with the most common issues raised provider practice, worker conduct and capability, and allegations of neglect or abuse; issuing almost 35 per cent more banning orders; distributing 160 per cent more compliance notices; revoking 80 per cent more registrations the previous year; and conducting two civil penalty proceedings during this period. The Minister for the NDIS, the Hon. Bill Shorten MP, said the 2023-24 NDIS Commission Annual Report shows that more funding and more people on the ground is resulting in stronger action being taken against dodgy providers who are knowingly failing their obligations and putting the health, safety and welfare of people with disability at serious risk. “This stronger approach works hand-in-hand with the NDIS Commission’s continued focus on safeguarding the human rights of NDIS participants and working proactively with providers to promote safe and quality practices,” Minister Shorten said. The number of infringement notices and warning letters issued by the NDIS watchdog also increased significantly in 2023-24 from the previous year. The NDIS Commission actioned more than 1,300 matters in 2023–24, removing people with disability from the immediate risk of abuse, neglect, assault, homelessness, loss of supports and services, or other serious harm. The report also reveals the outcome of the NDIS Commission’s Stakeholder Sentiment Survey which received 10,949 responses, with 83 per cent of people with disability and their representatives indicating they trust the NDIS Commission to support participants, carers and advocates if there are issues with NDIS services. Read the full NDIS Commission 2023-24 Annual Report here: https://lnkd.in/gqCDSk9v

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Aged Care Business Plans: how to write them, what to include and how to make an impact. https://lnkd.in/gc5qHCsU

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At our Official Launch event in October, we were fortunate to have the global expertise of our international keynote speaker Kristine Sorensen (Exec. Advisor and Founder of Global Health Literacy Academy, President of International Health Literacy Association), facilitate a workshop to explore the societal factors stakeholders identified as impacting or influencing health literacy efforts across NSW. 200+ workshop participants, representative of every NSW Health Local Health District (LHD), Specialty Hospital Network (SHN), Pillar/Agency and a range of community-based organisations, Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and Academia from major universities were tasked to undertake an environmental scan and provide feedback. Here’s what they were able to identify: 👉🏼 Technology: Attendees highlighted the role of technology—especially access, inclusivity issues, digital literacy, and the digital divide—as a key factor influencing how communities interact with health information. Concerns around AI and data security were also prominent. 👉🏼 Social Factors: Building connections within communities, tackling stigma, and addressing intersectionality were cited as essential for making health literacy inclusive and accessible to all. 👉🏼 Economic Conditions: Rising costs and limited funding are major barriers, affecting both individual access to resources and the sustainability of health literacy programs. Other important areas identified included education (like the need for foundational skills and staff training), policy (the need for supportive, clear policies), demographics (addressing an aging and multicultural population), and media influences (especially the spread of misinformation online). These insights are invaluable as we continue to shape health literacy initiatives and our strategic approach to meet the real-world needs of our communities.   What is the Statewide Health Literacy Hub doing ? The Statewide Health Literacy Hub is addressing these challenges by partnering with system and local leadership to offer evidence-based capacity building opportunities, tools resources and expertise that will support and improve organisational health literacy across NSW Health through highlighting opportunities for policy, system and improved use of resources. In partnership with the University of Sydney we are already progressing a program of applied research translation and will roll-out two primary initiatives in early 2025 – health literacy training for al healthcare staff and the electronic patient communication portal (ePCP) integrated with our SHeLL Editor tool that will support staff to develop health literate, culturally sensitive accessible communication. Through these targeted efforts, we’re committed to building a more health-literate NSW where everyone has the knowledge, tools and approaches to improve health literacy /digital health literacy. #codesignapproach #healthliteracymasterclass #healthforall #healthliteracy #publichealth

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People working in aged care should have access to the same legal rights as people working in other settings. One concern I have with the new Aged Care Act is that it creates broad powers for the Commissioner, Complaints Commissioner, or System Governor to compel people (not just registered providers or aged care employees) to produce information or answer questions, including compelling them to take an oath or affirmation [Ch6 Part 10 Div 3]. The threshold for applying this power is very low. As far as I can see the Commissioner just needs to believe the person has information relevant to whether a provider is complying, not that there is non-compliance; the Complaints Commissioner and System Governor just need to believe the person has information relevant to their functions [clause 488-489]. Standard legal protections are narrowed in relation to this power to exclude protection from a person making themselves liable for a penalty and legal professional privilege [compare s17 & s47 of the Reg Powers Act with clause 496 of the Bill]. The Bill already provides substantial monitoring and investigation powers under Ch 6 Part 2 – Part 5, which are broadly consistent with the Reg Powers Act but also allow warrantless entry where the Commissioner believes there is immediate and severe risk of harm to an older person [Ch6 Part 5]. The powers created under Ch6 Part 10 Div therefore, in my view, represent an extreme impingement on individual rights by the state without explanation or precedent being given. The Bill is supposed to be about human rights, but core element of human rights is protection from coercion by the state. This is mostly a matter of principle. A good provider will pretty much always be happy to answer questions from the regulator. And a good regulator won't misuse this power. However, we shouldn't design laws that rely on everyone being a good person. There are bad apples in business. And there are bad apples in government too. And lots of harm has been done in service to good intentions. Realistically providers will be well advised enough to make responses that protect their interests. E.g. That they are unsure. Can't remember. Need time to check their records and will come back with a written response. Individual workers are the people most likely to go into this process without representation and fall victim to misuse of this power. #agedcare

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JUST RELEASED 2024 -2029 Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy This Action Plan (the Plan) underpins the Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy (the Strategy), outlining how the Department of Health and Aged Care and its partners will deliver the Strategy. Actions are presented under each priority and outcome, which will collectively achieve the Strategy’s vision. Data collection, security, analysis and management along with change management / education and co-design will help reduce risk for Aged and Home care providers as the sector faces shortages of staff, quality and well-being of residents and increased regulatory expectations. Alignment with Aged Care providers and Technology and Data vendors is crucial and Talius is doing this with projects with ARIIA grants and aged care providers Whiddon and CSIRO. Talius believes the best care is informed care, Talius is an AI- powered, sensor enabled platform that supports aged care providers to operate safer, smarter and more profitably .... Introducing @Talius Smart Care Platform care. For more information, please visit our website www.talius.com.au or for a demonstration and more information contact [email protected] #datacollection #datasecurity #reducerisks #Changemanagement #codesign ARIIA Whiddon CSIRO Talius Eldercare Lutheran Homes Group ACH Group AnglicareSA Tanunda Lutheran Home Inc. ECH Inc. Anchor Excellence Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care Aged & Community Care Providers Association Regis Aged Care Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission https://lnkd.in/gszSs9YM

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I feel privileged to attend and contribute to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care Primary Care Conference held in Canberra this week, along with colleagues from the Department, Primary Health Networks, government-recognised peak bodies, and leaders from primary care. The theme this year is “one health system in partnership”. Indeed, no one can and no one should do this alone. It is about all hands on deck - all disciplines genuinely working together to improve health system capacity, efficiency and productivity. The Department Secretary Blair Comley rightly pointed out the 4 key areas of focus: 1. Pivot to prevention and early intervention 2. Achieving health equity 3. Leverage health technology and digitisation 4. System integration Community pharmacies and pharmacist services across areas of practice can contribute to a stronger primary care system. As articulated in the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Pharmacists in 2030 visionary roadmap, as our population ages, pharmacists can make significant contribution in medicine stewardship, medicine safety, and improved patient access to care. Our GP colleagues are highly trained and respected, and their practices should be empowered to build capacity. This should include funding to enable collaborative multidisciplinary team care consistent with community needs. This should include pharmacists actively contributing to improving medicine governance and alignment with achieving the aims of the National Medicines Policy. Systems must be in place to enable improved integration of services of pharmacies and pharmacists with GPs and other primary care providers. The Pharmacy profession is ready, and continues to work with our GP, nursing and allied health colleagues to strengthen team based care across areas of practice. Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Steve Morris Debbie Rigby Deborah Hawthorne Brooke Shelly Helen Benson The Pharmacy Guild of Australia Trent Twomey Monique Mackrill The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Australian Medical Association Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care Penny Shakespeare Anita Hobson-Powell Mark Roddam Andrew Hollo

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National Healthcare Interoperability Plan - Quarterly Progress Report published The third quarterly progress report on the implementation of the 44 actions identified in the Plan has now been published and is available on the Australian Digital Health Agency website at https://lnkd.in/gQadbvwe . Out of the 44 actions, two are complete, 34 are on track (9 are even ahead of schedule) and 8 actions are yet to commence (in accordance with the schedule). So in summary, the work is tracking well. Well done to everyone across the health sector who is involved in delivering this essential work.

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The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step-by-step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about ai-powered medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #healthcare #hospital #doctors

The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step by step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #productivity #burnout #doctors

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The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step by step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about ai-powered medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #healthcare #hospital #doctors

The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step-by-step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about ai-powered medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #healthcare #hospital #doctors

The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step by step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #productivity #burnout #doctors

The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step by step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about ai-powered medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #healthcare #hospital #doctors

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The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step-by-step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about ai-powered medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #healthcare #hospital #doctors

The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step by step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #productivity #burnout #doctors

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The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step by step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about ai-powered medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #healthcare #hospital #doctors

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The NZ Health Strategy 2023 says the health system will increase its focus on innovation and new technologies to accelerate better care and use of resources. This includes re-thinking how to use the health workforce, to be adaptive to emerging technologies and digital tools and incentivise ways of working that will deliver the most equitable health outcomes. Find out how you can streamline your documentation with medical speech recognition! The average typing speed is around 40 words per minute. The average speaking speed in English is 130 words per minute. Dragon medical One speech recognition has lots of additional features like predefined text, step by step commands and automatic formatting. It helps you create documentation 3 times faster! Dragon Medical One speech recognition is improving clinician satisfaction and reducing stress. Clinicians are spending more time with patients and less time typing notes. Find out more about ai-powered medical speech recognition via the link in the comments below 👇 #medicaldoctor #speechrecognition #medicalspeechrecognition #speechtotext #healthcare #hospital #doctors