UnitingCare

lifeassist.org.au

Annual Report 2014 – 2015‘A good life for all.’

In 2014 – 2015...we supported over 4,650 people

45 of these clients identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Our clients are born in over 97 different countries and speak over 54 languages

other than English, the three largest language groups being: Greek (140 Clients)

Chinese languages (137 Clients)

Italian (104 Clients)

Where possible, our staff speak the client’s preferred language or arrange access to interpreting and translating services. Other than English, our staff communicate with our clients in Greek, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Polish, Maltese, Croatian, Auslan and more.

58.9% of our clients stated that they received some form of government income support.

The services we purchased or delivered for our clients...

Case management services

39%

Respite Care15%

Personal care13%

Service coordination services

12%

Home Care6%

Other15%

Chart Title

We have expanded geographically and now provide government-funded services in Melbourne’s Eastern, Southern

and Northern Metropolitan Regions, Disability Solutions in the

NDIS Barwon Region, and self-funded supports across Victoria.

We provide our services based around the principles of Consumer Directed Care (CDC). For the client this means greater: control, choice and flexibility,

transparency and capacity building.

We have been

assisting people for 28 years,

since 1987.

Our staff Equivalent Full Time (EFT) is

113.93

UnitingCare

Our client committee

developed a Client Charter of Rights and

Responsibilities, shaping our services and

how we deliver them.

We launched our new

Customer Service Team, ensuring clients calling in get the help and advice they need more

quickly and easily.

Positive Ageing

Disability Solutions

Carer Support

All clients in Positive Ageing live in the Eastern Metropolitan region, with two thirds living in Monash, Whitehorse or Boroondara. Of the 65% that identified as receiving some form of government support, 75.3% had an aged pension and 14.3% a disability pension.

We have assisted over 300 clients on level 2 or 4 Home Care Packages.

4 out of 10 Positive Ageing clients live alone in their home. 48% of clients are aged 80 or older and 26% were in their 70s.

From July 1, 2015, all Home Care Packages had transitioned to be delivered on a Consumer Directed

Care (CDC) basis. For clients, this means greater:

Choice & Flexibility

Control Transparency Capacity Building

We expanded our services, to offer lifeAssist services in the NDIS Barwon region and opened an office in Geelong. In March 2015, lifeAssist was officially welcomed into the Geelong Chamber of Commerce. In 2015 we continued development of programs and services tailor made for people’s needs within the NDIS.

86% of our Disability Solutions clients live with family.

We support carers in Melbourne, the areas they

live in are...

Inner East (55.2%)

Outer East (37%)

North (3.3%)

South East (4.4%)

82.5% of the clients our Carer Support team assisted live with family.

We delivered over 60,150 hours of respite to carers.

We supported over 130 young carers and over 200 carers of a

person with a severe and profound disability and 840 carers providing care to a person living with a mental

illness in the Eastern Metro region.

The Taste to Remember forums, a seminar about memory

loss and dementia targeted at culturally and linguistically

diverse groups, supported over 240 community members.

Our Hospital Admission Risk Program supported 138 clients aged from 32 to 102.

We transitioned from a traditional model of working to a consumer directed approach within our carer support program.

The program averaged 202 contact hours per month, with 90.2 days being the average length

of support provided by the team.

... and assisted an additional 192 clients on Linkages packages.

Our Housing Support for the Aged program helped 35 clients aged from 50 to 76 where issues such

as frailty, mental illness and substance abuse put the security of their public housing at risk.

52.6% of our clients within our disability services were under 20 years old and 20.4% were aged

over 50. Additionally, 44.9% of clients stated that they are receiving

some government support.

Our new office is located in the heart of Geelong

Homeshare staff spent 1,490 hours in coordination.

We assisted 168 clients on Linkages packages.

mylifeAssistmylifeAssist provides self-funded services across Melbourne and Regional Victoria.

The total number of mylifeAssist self-funded clients increased by 194% in the financial year.

Through the National Respite for Carers Program we supported 367 carers in the Eastern Region and 56 carers in the Northern Region. Through Consumer

Directed Respite Care we assisted 23 carers. Under the Carers Mental Health program in Dandenong,

Casey & Cardinia, we supported 92 carers.

1,015 people were supported through the Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre.

Consumer Directed Care Home Care

Package ‘top ups’ increased

by 650%.

We saw a 250% increase

in clients receiving care coordination

services

We began delivering

initial consultation services to

clients.

We are contributing to the NDIS trial site development through networks and meetings.

The number of promotional activity bookings was 61.

We assisted 385 clients on Flexible Support Packages.

We maintained ICT system availability

99.7% (business hours) and 99.8% (non-business

hours). We also responded to 1,322 ICT requests.

Operational SupportIn December 2014, we implemented our new Customer Service Team, combining three previous team functions – Reception, Intake and Service Facilitators.

The Giving Box appeal helped 269 people from 155 families. We distributed various Christmas presents, as well as giving $1,500 in gift cards to clients to give to their families at Christmas, who otherwise would have received no

We’re moving towards a paper-free office,

eliminating paper storage, approximately

50,000 sheets of paper p.a.

Our Realising a Dream fund contributed over $21,000 to over 40 clients, providing grants directly to them to help fund one-off items and services which helped them realise a particular dream or goal.

We processed 25,000 invoices, of which 92% were

paid within 30 days.

We responded to 64,825 phone calls, 84% of which were answered within 30 seconds and 94% within

two minutes.

This included:

An iPad to help a client with autism refine

communication skills.

Funds contributed towards an electric wheelchair to

assist with a client’s mobility.

Help towards a small holiday, allowing for a client to take a break.

We introduced a new web-based recruitment

portal for new staff hires.

An organisational wide staff survey was completed.

We provided over 2,800 hours of training to staff.

We achieved recertification of the organisation against both the ISO 9001 Standards and Human Services Standards. We also conducted 12 second party audits of our service providers and conducted two internal audits.

Staff from across all areas of the organisation presented at numerous conferences, both internationally and nationally.

We additionally completed a 2013/2014 audit of finances, and an internal audit by the Uniting Church (Victoria and Tasmania).

The Choices in Aged Care project, in partnership with Deakin University, was completed.

The topics spoken about have included: Consumer Directed Care (CDC), Aged and Disability Care, Change Management and more.

We hosted a delegation of overseas community

care agencies to discuss Consumer

Directed Care.

In October, we celebrated the official launch event of

UnitingCare lifeAssist at Melbourne Zoo.

Previously, lifeAssist was known as UnitingCare Community Options.

Our online options selector was used over 4,700 times. With basic information provided by the user regarding their circumstance, this online tool provides options

which are relevant to their individual circumstances in less than 30 seconds.

Christmas gifts.

Commenced a structured innovation program training two teams of staff in a methodical

approach to business innovation.

We trialed Point of Care mobility solution which

will increase staff efficiency.