Project Report Centralised After- Hours Support System Project: Date: Author: 8th August 2014 Lisa Isaako 1. Background In April 2014 it was decided to pilot a centralised After-Hours Service. There were two main reasons for this: Our current managers and supervisors who were undertaking on call work told us that it was intrusive to their lives Payments under the award made the old system untenable Consultation has been undertaken by both Lifestyle Solutions and the ASU. As an alternative to the current system a national after-hours support (AHS) team has been piloted. The pilot focused on trialling a centralised system in NSW. This first stage in the national plan has allowed us to continue consultations with our people and their representatives around developing a sustainable long term solution to the provision of after-hours support. Implementation for Services in NSW regions have been successfully rolled out over a number of weeks. Following our continuous improvement process the pilot project has been reviewed and adjustments made throughout the project. The pilot program has been successful in regards to Calls successfully answered Nil complaints 2. Piloted Structure Team Leader: Manage the day to day operations of the team, contribute to the after-hours roster and provide backup and support to the team. 4 x After Hours Support Advisors: Provide after-hours support on a rostered basis. Recruitment for all positions included an internal expression of interest and competency based assessment process, followed by offers of secondment. This process ensured that we utilised internal expertise and knowledge and resulted in a team with knowledge of many of the service outlets, our internal processes and procedures and were familiar to many of our people. 3. Training Initially the team attended 5 days in-house training which included role induction, overview of our programs and behaviour support training conducted by our Clinical team. Further training covered for the initial roll out included: Legal responsibilities and obligations Key Statutory and regulatory requirements, duty of care, confidentiality, standards, child protection, reportable conduct Page 1 of 5 Project Report Process and procedure - including perform work within the policies, protocols and procedures, Gaps in service delivery, ethical issues and dilemmas in the workplace, Complaint process, Incident Process, WH&S Process, filling shifts Service Visits to meet with Coordinators, Facilitators and Case Managers. Also to gain a feel for the people we support, the service and the staff – start to build trust amongst the team. Training in service specifics especially Child and Family and Community Justice Program (CJP) including culture, Disability Services vs CJP, and the idiosyncrasies of the different programs i.e. Person centred vs person centric boundary driven, how to handle different types of phone calls. When to up line a situation Reporting - Communicating back to staff regarding what has happened over night, record keeping protocol, tracking trends Property incident training – when to take action, what can wait till the morning Work through scenarios, problem solving – what happens with multiple calls i.e. risk assessment of the phone call Medical Crisis/Incident – Steps to go through (flow chart), guiding questions Suicide prevention training – protocol, guidelines Mental Health training Vicarious Trauma Training Ongoing training and development for After-Hours Support advisors is also currently being calendared, working towards ongoing skill development and relevant industry standard implementation. 4. Resources Each team member has a computer, phone (with wireless capabilities) and access to the internet Access to people we support profiles is available via our internal L:Drive, utilising databases and CTARS (Child and Family Residential database) Process and procedures are available on the intranet and via the L:Drive A centralised contact number as well as a team email address Relevant client information and data is updated every Friday as part of the Team Leaders function. The information is being maintained in a configuration allowing for speed and access to the most up to date information. With the success of the current roll out accepted, Lifestyle Solutions are currently in the process of securing a tailored phone and data system that will better service our requirements. This system will have features such as: Call queue Call back Call priority Call rotation The system also has the capacity for a hands free console to allow our team to access data and information and handle contact calls free in a safe and effective manner. Page 2 of 5 Project Report 5. Implementation Task Name Details/Status NSW Disability Hunter/Central Disability (excluding CJP) NSW Disability Sydney Disability (excluding CJP) NSW Disability Rest of disability (excluding CJP) NSW Child and Foster care Family NSW Child and Child and Family residential house 1, 2 and 3 Family NSW Child and Child and Family residential house 4, 5 and 6 Family NSW Child and Child and Family residential house 7, 8 and 9 Family NSW Child and Child and Family residential house 10 and 11 Family NSW Disability CJP Disability and Child & Family After Hours Support All NSW Pilot Project up and running Start End Fri 23/05/14 Fri 30/05/14 Fri 6/06/14 Fri 13/06/14 Fri 20/06/14 Fri 27/06/14 Fri 4/07/14 Fri 4/07/14 Fri 18/07/14 Thu 31/07/14 6. Communication and Change A two phase approach was used: a) All NSW staff: Given an overview of the support, what is it, protocol, what they can expect, level of delegation/authority, they are our team (not based overseas), Open and honest b) Specific to service to be rolled out: After hours specifics, number to call. A letter has also gone out to Foster carers with potential to have a fridge magnet, contact card or similar disseminated for ease. The process of internal change management is ongoing using a consultative process within the organisational structure, this process allows the most relevant and effective system implementation of current practice and protocol. Lifestyle Solutions utilises the PROSCI Change Management principles. All relevant protocols and contact details of After Hours Support are made available to all or our people in NSW via email communication. 7. Award and Entitlements All Advisors positions have been classified at Grade 5 under the modern award. All award conditions and entitlements are applied in full including pay rates and minimum break requirements. 8. Staff Empowerment Clear protocols have been developed in relation to appropriate contact and access to the After-Hours Support Team, which includes a range of decisions that are able to be made by support workers without having to contact the team. This has been well received by support workers to date. Page 3 of 5 Project Report All staff have received clear and defined Flow Charts of the rights and responsibilities of the After-Hours Support Advisors, these protocols and practice documents have been disseminated to all staff and are available to Advisors on the After-Hours Support L Drive Function. 9. Feedback We encourage regular feedback, feedback is received via phone and email. To date all matters raised have been responded to appropriately. Currently there are no outstanding concerns. The After-Hours Support Team Leader is rostered to attend regular Senior Management and State Management Team Meetings to facilitate effective and responsive communication and feedback. This provides our people with the opportunity to raise concerns with their line managers who will then discuss directly with senior management. Lifestyle Solutions provides many outlets for the people we support and our staff to comment or participate in the development of our business and processes including through line managers, via our Health Safety and Wellness Committee, the Lifestyle Solutions Intranet and informally with our leaders and national support staff who regularly visit service centres. The General Managers for the Eastern Seaboard, Linda Griffiths and Kelly Da Costa, have been consulted to gain feedback on the progress of the pilot project. Feedback was positive, and it has been reported that that the project has been very successfully received with positive feedback from all levels of our people. The After Hours advisors currently working in the direct line positions also have reported very positive response to the service from people accessing the service. We have also sought feedback from similar service providers who have moved to a Centralised system, and have found the that this approach meets the support needs of our people and is an effective resolution to the issues we have identified with a the old system. 10. Reporting We have developed a tiered approach to reporting which allows for the cascading of information including: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Each call received to AHS is recorded in a call register All calls are reported to relevant Team Leaders, Managers, Senior Managers and other relevant Divisional Leaders such as Maintenance, Work Place Health and Safety and Human Resources. Weekly reports are provided to the Executive Leader Support Partnerships Monthly reports are delivered to the State Managers The After Hours Support Team Leader is rostered to attend regular Senior Management and State Management Team Meetings. This allows for communication and feedback around the ongoing development and best use of this resource. 11. Emergency Reporting The following protocols are in place: i. The Executive Leader Support Partnerships is to be called immediately in the event of a Death, Near Death or Media Involvement Page 4 of 5 Project Report ii. iii. iv. v. All Category 1 incidents are to be notified to Toni Carson by text message with email to Senior Manager and Coordinator All Category 2 incidents are to be notified to Coordinator and Senior Manager by Email All Category 3 incidents are to be notified to Coordinator by email. No follow up texts are required unless there is a category change or further information has been requested by Toni Carson or whoever may be relieving her in absence. 12. Use of Service We acknowledge that previously it was identified the administrative and maintenance calls were placing an unnecessary burden on the after-hours support system and that consideration should be given to separating these needs from the system. A number of changes were made to the system prior to this pilot project as a result of this feedback, particularly around staffing issues, that has positively impacted on the nature of calls to the after-hours support system. Current trending indicates that this issue has largely been resolved and often staffing and maintenance matters will be represented in conjunction with “valid” contact to the After-Hours Support Service. All Calls to the service thus far have reached a successful conclusion. 13. Where to from here After the successful pilot we will now move to implement a national After-Hours Support System based on our experiences with the NSW pilot project. Implementation will follow the plan utilised for the pilot. We are seeking final input from the ASU and their representatives by Friday 22nd August 2014 to enable us to make any final adjustments prior to the national roll out. The current pilot is due to cease at the end of August and to ensure the least amount of disruption to our people we will be requesting internal only expressions of interest for permanent roles from next week to enable us to move quickly once any feedback has been received. This will also enable us to ascertain if there is any requirement to recruit in the external market, however it is our hope that all positions will be filled internally. No decisions will be made, or recruitment activity undertaken until the week beginning 25th August 2014. Page 5 of 5
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