Project: Date: Author: 1. Background 2. Piloted Structure

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:
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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
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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:
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Legal responsibilities and obligations
Key Statutory and regulatory requirements, duty of care, confidentiality, standards, child protection,
reportable conduct
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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