Transitioning to single site operations - Information for Residential Aged Care Facilities June 2021 (NSW)
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Transitioning to single site
operations
Information for Residential Aged Care Facilities
June 2021 (NSW)
Acknowledgement of Country: 'In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today’.
Logistics • Technical Support • Google: Joining and participating in a zoom webinar • ph: 1300 111 636 • e: events@lasa.asn.au • For questions please use chat function
Panellists: • Cheryl Edwards, Residential Specialist, LASA • Anna-Maria Wade, Employee Relations Manager, ACSA • Dennis Ravlich, Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation NSW • Lauren Hutchins, Health Services Union NSW/ACT/QLD • Jacob Madden, Acting Ass Secretary, Structural Adjustment Strategy Branch, DOH • Glenys Webby, Project Manager, Guiding Principles for Residential Care, ACSA
Single Site Engagement Glenys Webby, Project Manager
Single Site engagement • SSE is recommended as an infection control process across Aged Care sites for COVID 19. International evidence supports SSE where multisite working exists. • Goal is to move quickly to single site working staff arrangements with a primary site for primary employed roles. • Agency and surge workforce excluded. • Voluntary process with workers and employers collaborating. • Care quality to be maintained. • Staff not to be out of pocket and are paid regular wage. • Providers can claim out of pocket expenses through funding grant retrospectively.
Key Points: Collaborative process Voluntary engagement • Get ready processes - know where your staff are working, access the letter templates – refresh the dates. • Liaise with staff around primary and secondary sites – Primary = most hours unless there is a quality of care concern. • Formalise the arrangement – evidence with past payslips. • Website and Support Hub • Implement – pay staff regularly for all the hours even if not worked = same take home pay (WH&S/ no hrs available/carer commitments) • Transition out
Support Hub
Support Hub: 5 Focus Areas to support implementation
1. Skilled people resources to support providers with guidance and expertise:
a. Employment Relations and Industrial Relations
b. Clinical Consulting services
2. Facilitate provider cooperation to respond to workforce shortages or if a site is oversubscribed
with workers.
Assist with connections to other providers (members and non-members), labour agencies etc
The Hub will not be responsible for the provision of workforce.Support Hub: 5 Focus Areas 3. Provide workforce mobilisation guidance and tools; 4. Provide access to resources in the form of tools and templates to assist with; (workplace relations, workforce communications, recruitment and workforce planning); and 5. Participate in an Advisory Committee to contribute to the sector’s oversight of the implementation of the guidelines.
Support Hub Website • Latest Guiding Principles • Messages and announcements • FAQ / Webinars • Continuity of care tool • Other resources, letters and templates • Transition out materials • Funding application updates
Questions • Primary and secondary site • Other worksites – community, elsewhere excluded • Staffing issues - shortage of staff, agency and surge workforce • Border issues • Leave/maternity leave and other HR matters • Training • PSRAC • Other grants
Employee Perspective
Employee Perspective • No disadvantage • Flexibility • Payment as normal • Ease of being released and returning
Support for Aged Care Workers in COVID-
19 (SACWIC) GrantKey facts:
• Purpose: to minimise the risk of infection to aged care workers, residents, and
service users
• Open until 31 December 2021 for current Greater Sydney hotspot;
applications for prior hotspots due by 30 June 2021.
• Support for workers who:
• normally work at multiple residential aged care facilities now at a single site
• cannot attend work due to COVID-19 (ie. symptoms, testing, diagnoses,
isolation); and
• training gaps caused by the above.Eligibility Accept applications from those who are: • an approved Residential Aged Care provider • an approved Home Care provider • delivering aged care services under the Commonwealth National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (an approved NATSIFACP provider) • located in a hotspot/high risk area as identified in the guidelines (appendices 1 and 2).
Appendix 1- COVID-19 Hotspots or high risk location – applications close
30 June 2021
Hotspot or high risk location Period of hotspot or high risk location designation
Greater Melbourne 15 July 2020 to 30 November 2020
Mitchell Shire 15 July 2020 to 30 November 2020
Northern Beaches local government area 18 December 2020 to 29 January 2021
Victorian suburbs of: 31 December 2020 to 29 January 2021
• Brighton
• Doveton
• Glen Waverley
• McKinnon
• Moorabbin
• Mordialloc
Local government areas of: 8 January 2021 to 22 January 2021
• Brisbane
• Moreton Bay
• Ipswich
• Redland
• Logan
Greater Melbourne 13 February 2021 to 17 February 2021
Local government areas of: 30 March 2021 to 13 April 2021
• Brisbane
• Moreton Bay
• Ipswich
• Redland
• LoganAppendix 2- COVID-19 Hotspots or high risk location – applications close
31 December 2021
Hotspot or high risk location Period of hotspot or high risk location designation
Greater Melbourne 27 May 2021 to 8 July 2021
Local government areas of: 23 June 2021 to 10 July 2021*
• City of Sydney
• Waverley
• Woollahra
• Bayside
• Canada Bay
• Inner West
• Randwick
Greater Sydney, including Blue Mountains, Central Coast, 26 June 2021 to 10 July 2021*
Wollongong and ShellharbourLGAs in Greater Sydney Bayside Lane Cove Blacktown Liverpool Blue Mountains Mosman Burwood North Sydney Camden Northern Beaches Campbelltown Penrith Canada Bay Randwick Canterbury-Bankstown Ryde Central Coast Shellharbour City Of Parramatta Strathfield Cumberland Sutherland Shire Fairfield Sydney Georges River The Hills Shire Hawkesbury Waverley Hornsby Willoughby Hunters Hill Wollondilly Inner West Wollongong Ku-ring-gai Woollahra
Not eligible: • Commonwealth, state, territory or local government agency or body (including government business enterprises) • Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) service provider • an approved Residential Aged Care provider, approved NATSIFACP provider or approved Home Care provider who: • has Business Interruption Insurance including COVID-19 coverage; and/or • is funded and/or operated by a State or Territory Government
Overview of assessment process • Application form, application spreadsheet, guidelines and FAQs available on Grant Connect. • May apply up front (if experiencing financial strain) or retrospectively for funding • Ensure all information provided is complete and accurate • Department will review your application • May ask for further supporting documentation • Determines grant amount based on assessment of needs through completed application form • If delegate approves, you will be sent a Letter of Agreement
How your grant will be managed – award to acquittal • Letter of Agreement will state the amount of funding • unless you opt out the payment after two business days cooling off period • Community Grants Hub manage the grant • If you applied for upfront funding a financial acquittal is to be provided to Department within two weeks of conclusion • unspent funds over 10% will be repaid • audits will be conducted on some providers
Where do I find Search
the application “Support for
Aged Care
Workers”
information?
Access to
application
documentsThe right documents • Check addenda to get the latest version of the excel application form.
Further assistance
On application form:
The Department at: grant.atm@health.gov.au.
The Guiding Principle Support Hub
for guidance, tools and advice to assist in
implementing guidelines
Hotline: 1800 491 793
Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pmQuestions
What if I have an employee who works for our RACF and a hospital or similar health care service? • The Principles only apply to work at registered aged care facilities (RACFs) and do not address working at a hospital as well as a RACF. • The worker must comply with all infection control protocols of all employers. • If in doubt, start a discussion with them to see if they can work solely at either the RACF or the other employer.
When will I be reimbursed for the extra costs I incur when I have
to pay for additional wages for employees who choose my
RACF as their primary employer?
Providers will be able to claim funding under the Grant to cover things like:
• additional hours and overtime rates to staff so that they can work at single-
sites, without being financially disadvantaged;
• casual workers’ remuneration if they are unable to work due to self-isolation
or quarantine;
• part-time and permanent workers access to paid leave if they do not have
any paid leave entitlements.
Timeframes for when payments will be made will depend on when the
application is made and processing times.Does the secondary employer receive funding if they need to backfill for staff who’ve elected to work for a primary employer? Financial support through Grant applications will be considered on a case by case basis and will be linked to the size of the provider and its anticipated staffing needs. Secondary employers are entitled to apply for this financial support.
I have employees who work at different sites – my site is over 30 hours pw and the other site is also over 30 hours pw. The employee works 70 hours pw in total. Do they receive payment to that level? • If the primary employer does not have sufficient rostered hours to employ the worker for those additional hours, they must employ them for ‘supernumerary hours’. • Additional hours to be worked should comply with the usual terms of employment including shifts, penalty rates, overtime rates and when ordinary hours are worked. • In regard to the maximum hours to be worked, the employer must be mindful that routine excess hours can pose a risk to the safety and wellbeing of both employees and residents. In this circumstance, the excess hours should be treated as being ‘supernumerary hours’ paid but not worked.
How do we judge casual hours when employed by two employers? • Casual workers who are employed directly by a site will fall within the scope of the Principles. • As they do not have contracted hours, casual workers will be required to provide evidence to the primary employer of the other work arrangements which would show an average of hours worked. • To determine this you could calculate an average of hours worked over the past 6 weeks to establish the baseline for the additional hours. The evidence would typically be their last 3 payslips (they can black out the rate as it only the name and hours that are needed).
How will funding arrangements work? The Commonwealth will provide financial assistance to RACF providers that are located in or have staff working in a declared hotspot to help cover the costs of: • supporting workers to work additional hours to enable them to work at a single site; • ensuring that aged care staff who are symptomatic have access to paid leave; • engaging and training additional staff where existing employees are unable to work due to self-isolation requirements or where the provider faces additional costs as a result of the COVID-19 crisis; and • supporting aged care workers who are unable to work due to self-isolation or travel restrictions.
How do we manage employees working at multiple sites? • The Principles are designed to ensure workers are based at one site only, even where a provider has multiple sites. • Reflecting the intention of the Principles, secondary employers will be expected to continue to offer engagements to casual employees at the conclusion of this period. This does not constitute a period of ‘leave’. • Workers will be able to move between sites after a 14 day isolation period in circumstances where there has been a COVID-19 outbreak. • Changes to the length of the shift are only by mutual agreement and through adherence to existing industrial instruments.
RN works at hospital as well as my facility – I am concerned about infection control and RN exposure from the hospital As a RACF provider, you would be within your rights to discuss infection control with the employee and possibly their supervisor at the hospital. • Workers are obligated to advise you if they have been exposed to COVID or have COVID like symptoms. • You could discuss with the employee how they feel working at both sites and see where that goes. Any changes will need to be by agreement.
Some hospitals / RACFs are advising RNs they must choose between hospital and aged care work • The Principles do not apply in this situation and so the funding is not available. • Aged care providers will be able to apply for funding only if they located in a declared hotspot or have staff who work for another RACF provider that is in a declared hotspot. • The Principles are designed to ensure workers are based at one site only, even where a provider has multiple sites. • Workers will be able to move between sites after a 14 day isolation period in circumstances where there has been a COVID-19 outbreak.
Support Hub Contact Details • Phone: 1800 491 793 • Hours of operation: 8.30am – 5pm • Online enquiry form: https://supporthub.agedservicesworkforce.com.au ttps://supporthub.agedservicesworkforce.com.au
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