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Aged & Community Services
SA & NT Inc©
246 Glen Osmond Road,
Fullarton SA 5063
Phone: (08) 8338 7111
Fax: (08) 8338 7077
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Snippets - Volume 8 Issue 3
March 2008
Please note, some of the articles provided will have additional papers which can be downloaded or directed to another website page. In some cases these documents are linked to the ACS Members Only section of this website and will require a Username and Password. All members have been issued with a Username and Password. If you have not received this please contact Julia Beckett with your contact details and she will issue you with your access details.
Index
From the CEO's Desk
Easter media coverage
Like all of you, ACS staff were dismayed by Easter weekend media coverage relating to the complaints investigation scheme (CIS) report. Apart from the fact that ACS was not furnished with a copy of the Report on the Operation of Aged Care Quality and Compliance (1 July- 31 December 2007) prior to it being announced by Minister Elliot and thus was in no position to respond to media enquiries, it was grossly negligent to have released this information without proper explanation.
The new system counts its data differently (the main reason for the discrepancy in figures) and it is to be expected that there will be more complaints when a new system is introduced as occurred on July 1 last year.
The Department of Health and Ageing was well aware that the CIS data could easily be misinterpreted but unfortunately it seems it was given no opportunity to explain the situation. What didn’t get reported was that of the nearly 4000 complaints registered only a very small number required action; 113 notices were issued. There were 33 referrals to police.
ACSA has already written to Minister Elliot expressing concern about the manner and timing of the release of this data. The ACSA letter also stressed that the unfortunate result is further unwarranted undermining of public perception of the industry, and angst amongst the thousands of people who diligently take care of our elderly.
ACS SA & NT is also considering what it can do to make sure the message about the importance of adopting a responsible approach is relayed to the new Minister.
Board governance forum
Unfortunately the forum planned for April 4 has had to be cancelled because of a lack of sufficient response. Recognising that it may be difficult for Board members to give up a whole day because of other commitments, ACS is investigating the idea of running a series of after work sessions, with each session focusing on particular aspects of Board governance. In short, the forum program we had proposed to deliver in a day would be spread over four or five early evenings (two hours duration) throughout the year.
Website upgrade
The ACS SA&NT website has just received a significant upgrade of its architecture, which should make it easier to navigate and use, including the printer friendly function. The review of website content continues.
There may be a few teething troubles with the new architecture. If you experience any difficulties when using the website, or notice anything that needs attention, please advise ACS Communications Officer
Julia Beckett.
General News
Immunisation for health care workers
Professor Warwick Anderson, CEO of the National Health and Medical Research Council, has called for employers of health care workers in general practice, hospitals and aged care to start planning influenza vaccination clinics now so staff are protected and avoid spreading it to at-risk groups in their care.
"Influenza is not just a bad cold. Approximately 2,500 Australians die each year from influenza-related complications and with over one million people in the at risk groups, we have to be proactive in protecting them and the people who care for them," he said.
"Annual immunisation is the best protection available against influenza, but less than half the people under 65 most at risk of developing life threatening complications are being immunised, and health care worker rates are just as low."
The National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) has redeveloped the fight flu website with the latest evidence, Q & A section and tools including posters and tips on running a campaign to help deliver a workplace immunisation program.
Aged care industry survey
The national peak body for Aged & Community Services, ACSA, has commissioned a comprehensive research project into perceptions and expectations of the aged care industry.
McGregor Tan Research is surveying aged care providers, employees and consumers to provide a complete picture of aged care in Australia.
Your support is needed to ensure this research is meaningful and useful. ACSA needs as many member providers and employees as possible to complete the relevant questionnaire by the end of March.It would also be helpful if you could pass on news of the survey to any consumers you know who may be interested.
Please click on the appropriate link below to complete your online questionnaire:
| Provider | Employee | Consumer |
ACS Library
ACS has recently reviewed and catalogued the items held in its library, resulting in a collection of some 700 items catalogued. Items include DVDs, journals, books, kits, presentations and conference proceedings. ACS is pleased to make the library available to members for borrowing.
Metropolitan members will be required to pick up and return any items they wish to borrow. ACS will post items to rural providers on request, and providers will be required to post the item back to ACS at their expense. Members may also come into the ACS library to look through the items in person. If members require a significant amount of photocopying to be done, it will incur a charge of 20c per page.
Enquiries about the library can be directed to Ann-Marie Hudson.
National Report Issue 175
The latest edition of the National Report is now available from the members only section. Click here to download. Issues covered in the latest edition include:
- Community Care Magic and Myths the Reality and the Potential
- Aged Care - Another Ticking Bomb for Government
- What do you see in Aged Care?
- ACF I- Fasten Your Seatbelts
- Progress Reports
- Correction
- Important New Zealand Health & Disability Commissioner Ruling
- Quality Client Outcomes & Cultural Diversity: Seminar & Expo: National Disability Awards 2008
- Online Service Improves Return to Work
Dementia Advisory Group
Federal Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, has appointed a high-level 16-member national advisory group on dementia.
The Dementia Advisory Group will provide both the Department of Health and Ageing and the Minister with expert advice on dementia, including implementation and evaluation of the Australian Government’s Dementia Initiative.
The advisory group consist of experts drawn from dementia peak organisations, and includes Sharon Davis, Northern Regional Manager, Uniting Church Australian Frontier Services and Greg Mundy – Chief Executive Officer, Aged and Community Services Australia. It will be co-chaired by former Brisbane Lord Mayor Sallyanne Atkinson and carer Sue Pieters-Hawke.
Income support increased to help veterans
Legislation has been introduced to boost allowances paid to veterans on low incomes. It will increase the seniors’ concession allowance to $500 a year and the telephone allowance from $88 to $132 a year, for those with a home internet connection.
All income support pensioners will be eligible for utilities allowance regardless of age. The rates of utilities allowance and seniors’ concession allowance will be reviewed twice yearly.
National ACAT review – final report
The final report of the Aged Care Assessment Team national review has been released, together with the Government response.
Click here for both.
The report is very long, but the Government response provides a summary, as well as detailing the recommendations and its response to them.
Aged care commissioner website
The Office of the Aged Care Commissioner has launched a website to provide accurate and important information for aged care providers, care recipients and their families, and the public at large.
The site will assist with information and resources including a variety of publications, details on the role of the Office and tips and facts on submitting complaints or appeals.
Click here to access the website.
Rapid response – ACAT
Federal Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot has announced that a mobile Rapid Response Team will be set up to help older Australians waiting to be assessed for government funded aged care.
The $250,000 pilot is part of a $1million boost to cut assessment waiting times for older Australians in ‘black spots’. The rapid response team is expected to target far northern NSW and northern Sydney before moving to other priority areas across Australia.
AHHA lunch meeting
If you work in the SA Department of Health, in a hospital, community care or aged care facility you may be interested in attending the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association SA Branch lunch-time meeting, where Dr Tony Sherbon, Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Health, will talk about healthcare policy directions in South Australia.
When: 12.15 to 2.15pm on Wednesday 30 April 2008
Where: To be confirmed
To book your seat for please call 02 6162 0780 or email Jacob Smit in the AHHA office.
Dementia action plan
In February 2006, the Office for the Ageing (OFTA) released Improving with Age – Our Ageing Plan for South Australia, setting the policy framework for developing ageing services.
One of the kick-start initiatives outlined in the Ageing Plan for SA was development of South Australia’s Dementia Action Plan: Facing the Challenges Together. The object is to influence planning for dementia services until 2011, in line with objectives of the National Framework for Action on Dementia.
OFTA has prepared a draft action plan for comment. Click here for a copy.
OFTA welcomes comments on the draft plan, which will inform the development and implementation of the final version. Please forward any comments to Helen Ottaway (Acting Chief Policy Officer, Policy, Strategy & Research Team, OFTA), in writing, no later than April 4 2008.
The final draft for changes to Certificate III and Certificate IV in Aged Care & Home and Community qualifications has been released for comment.
Click here for an abridged version of the two drafts.
This is your last chance to provide feedback and it will be another five years before they are reviewed again. Your comments can be emailed to Vanessa Dayeh, or call (02) 9270 6616, or Anita Jacobsen or call
(02) 9270 6627.
News for Residential Members
Coronial communiqué
The residential aged care coronial communiqué provides an overview of cases related to aged care that have been before the coroner’s court.
It includes a summary of the investigation, including the coroner’s comments.
The February 2008 edition of the Coronial Communiqué is now available here.
Mentoring program
The ACS SA&NT Residential Care committee is establishing a mentoring network designed to provide support, assistance and guidance to new managers within the aged care industry. If you are a new manager, or know of a new manager that may be interested in participating in this project please contact Natasha Searcy.
Strengthening guidelines
The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) is planning to strengthen guidelines on how investigation staff respond to concerns about clinical care, including during serious disease outbreaks in nursing homes.
Under the revised guidelines - being developed in conjunction with state, territory and local health authorities - nurses investigating concerns about clinical care will be given more specific guidance to ensure gaps in care can be identified and acted upon.
DoHA oversees more than 2,870 accredited nursing homes with 167,070 aged care beds across Australia, providing permanent residential care each year to one in every ten Australians aged 70 or over.
Click here for further information.
Schedule of fees and charges
DoHA has advised that a number of resident fees and charge related rates will vary from March 20 2008.
The quarterly review of income-tested fees will take effect from March 20. Letters will be issued following the review of income-tested fees, if a resident's fee for the new quarter is different to the last quarter, or if a refund is due.
An increase to the Maximum Permissible Interest Rate for the refund of accommodation bond balances takes effect from April 1.
The quarterly review of income-tested fees that was to be run on March 21 has been delayed until March 29.
The effective date for any fee changes remains March 20. Review letters will start issuing during the week commencing March 31.
If you have any queries about the Schedule of Fees and Charges or other content, please call the Aged Care Information Line on 1800 500 853.
News for Community Providers
Last chance to book – Community Care forum
The forum is aimed at Community Care Managers, Coordinators and Care Workers. Karen Glaetzer will use a case study to address pain assessment and management, advance care planning, communication, palliative approach for the client with dementia and the role of a specialist palliative team.
The forum will be held on Friday April 4 at the Stables Ballroom, Morphettville Junction, Camden Park.
Click here for the flyer and registration form.
Technical aid available
Technical Aid to the Disabled SA (TADSA) is celebrating its 30th birthday in 2008. This statewide charity uses the skills, time and facilities of its technical volunteers to design and build or modify devices for people with disabilities.
Over these 30 years volunteers have built more than 3,000 projects. The current group of 37 technical volunteers has skills in woodwork, electrical or mechanical engineering, electronics, plastics and computers.
Anyone, with a problem related to a disability or ageing, who needs help, or anyone wishing to volunteer, can call the TADSA office on 8261 2922 or 1300 663 243.
Home and Community Care funding round
The Minister for Ageing has approved the HACC 2008-09 Funding Priorities and has announced 2008-09 HACC Funding Round 24.
This year there will be no public advertisement of the 2008-09 HACC Funding Round, as there will be no HACC funding allocated via an open submission process. This does not rule out use of an open submission process in future rounds.
Existing HACC funded agencies in the metropolitan areas and existing HACC and Commonwealth funded service providers of community aged care in country areas, already providing the identified required services, will be invited to submit an Expression of Interest (subject to satisfactory performance and capability).
The Office for the Ageing aimed to send out, via email, Expressions of Interest forms for both Direct Allocation and Invited Submission by March 20.
If you have any queries regarding the 2008-09 HACC Funding Round processes please contact the Funding Team on (08) 8207 0454.
Community quality forum
ACS Community Quality Improvement Work Group is developing the program for a Forum scheduled for Wednesday June 4. The Forum will include Government updates, speakers on monitoring the quality of contracted services and managing OHS&W risks in community settings.
For more information contact Carol Mohan, telephone 8338 7111.
Home and Community Care triennial plan
ACS has prepared a response to the HACC Triennial Plan on behalf of members. Members can click here to access the letter.
The Way Forward update
Since last year the work of A New Strategy for Community Care – The Way Forward has progressed, with most of the community care reform projects finalising the research and development work and moving toward piloting, user acceptance testing, evaluation and planning for common arrangement implementation.
ACS members can click here to access a progress report from the latter half of 2007 and this year.
Community Care Census
ACS has received feedback from many members expressing concern about the Census that is underway for CACP, EACH and NRCP services. A number of issues have been raised including:
- Prolonged technical difficulties with poor response from the Help Desk.
- The process is extremely resource intensive.
- Data requested could be sourced by the Department from other sources.
- Some questions are fairly intrusive and would not usually be asked by providers.
ACS has notified the SA office of the Department of Health and Ageing of these concerns and raised them with ACSA. The concerns of ACS members are reflected around the nation. ACSA has been in regular dialogue with Mary McDonald (Assistant Secretary, Community Care Branch, DoHA) and has written to Andrew Stuart (First Assistance Secretary, Ageing & Aged Care Division, DoHA).
Members can click here to access a copy of the letter.
As a result the Department has taken steps to improve operation of the IT system and has written to providers apologising for the problems. ACSA has lobbied for an extension to the data entry deadline and will continue to push for a response to the other issues raised.
If you are still experiencing technical difficulties or have other concerns you wish to raise about the Census please email Peta Braendler. community@agedcommunity.asn.au
HACC national forum
Forum presentations for the recent invitation only HACC National forum held in Melbourne are now available here.
Free resource - last call
In the December 2007 issue of Snippets, ACS advised availability of resource manual produced by the Local Government Association, entitled Developing Better Practice Models - A Guide to Applying the HACC National Service Standards to Your Own Program (1999).
ACS still has a few copies of this resource left, so the offer to members of a free copy is still available.
Although a bit dated, the manual is still useful for organisations starting to work with the HACC National Service Standards. It has been developed as a guide to working towards better practice. The manual covers:
- Access to services
- Information and consultation
- Efficient and effective management
- Coordinated, planned and reliable service delivery
- Privacy, confidentiality, and access to personal information.
- Complaints and disputes
- Advocacy
If you would like a copy, please contact Ann-Marie Hudson. As the manual is quite large, it would be expensive for ACS to post, so we ask that interested members collect their copy next time they are passing. Interested rural members can contact ACS to make arrangements to obtain a copy.
ACFI Update
Training Website and Registration
Medicare has set up the training website for ACFI to enable practice at submitting ACFI data. All providers should have now received a letter explaining how to access this site.
If you are planning to use web-based claiming you will need to register by completing the ACFI Authorisation webform, which can be found on the Medicare Australia website.
Access to the training site can be achieved by the following steps:
1. Download the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) training environment user guide.
2. Go to the training site.
3. When asked for user id, refer to passwords on page six of the user guide.
Assistance with implementation
The Commonwealth Government has announced more than $3 million in direct support for the aged care sector to assist in adapting to ACFI. It also said it would review ACFI in 18 months.
A panel of independent business advisors will be established to assist aged care homes to manage the change to the new funding arrangements.
An information hotline – 1800 500 853 – is available to help providers with the transition.
TAFE NSW training
TAFE NSW Western Institute is running a range of ACFI training in each state. This will include:
- Train the Trainer
- ACFI Appraiser training
- Distance Learning
- Short Courses
- Consultancy
- Customised Training
Further information can be obtained from the TAFE NSW website. The phone contact for registrations is 1300 55 37 18.
Support for rural and remote providers
Implementation of the new Aged Care Funding Instrument will present many challenges to all aged care providers. The Aged and Community Services SA & NT Residential Care Committee would like to receive feedback from rural and remote members to determine how best ACS can support you.
This may include training, provision of resources etc. Please contact Natasha Searcy on (08) 8338 7111 with your feedback, suggestions and ideas.
Financial impact of ACFI v RCS
Members are encouraged to continue to send in information to Natasha Searcy at ACS SA&NT about what is going on in your services, particularly the impact on funding.
It would also be useful if you could report on any changes in your intake practices and any other issues so that ACS can respond accordingly. If there are members who are prepared to continue to do RCS appraisals in parallel with their ACFIs for a period, this information would also be very useful. The ACS Residential Care Committee will discuss what it can do in this regard.
ACS will hold training in May and June on how to maximise ACFI claims. Full details will be distributed shortly.
The 2008 Residential Care Forum on April 11 will also have a session dedicated to ensuring you are prepared for ACFI, including a panel discussion and opportunity for questions and answers.
Reminders
It is very important to ensure completion all of the ACFI checklist items, especially those that are diagnosis-based.
Some members have asked about the definition of high and low care and who decides it. The Department has clarified this, saying that it is the ACAT (ACCR) assessment that determines high and low care status rather than the ACFI assessment.
Frequently asked questions
ACFI frequently asked questions are now available on the Department of Health & Ageing website.
Securing the future
As reported in the recent News Bites, changes to income assessment, concessional resident calculations and the new accommodation payments will also come into place for new residents from March 20.
Information kits on these changes and ACFI should by now have been sent by DoHa. From March 20 the concessional, assisted and pensioner categories will be replaced by a category of a ‘supported resident’ (new residents only).
News for the Retirement Sector
Retirement housing survey
The ACS SA & NT Retirement Housing Committee is seeking feedback from all members to assist in guiding development of the 2008 Retirement Housing Committee Action Plan.
All responses will be treated in the strictest confidence and will be used by ACS and members of the ACS Retirement Housing Committee, with no details provided to any external organisation.
If you have not already done so, please return the completed survey form to ACS SA&NT by either fax (08) 8338 7077 or by e-mail no later than Monday March 31.
Click here for a copy of the survey.
Residents Advocacy Service
The Office for the Ageing (OFTA) is trialling a Retirement Village Residents Advocacy Service to provide personal support, assistance or representation when a retirement village resident is in dispute with a village manager or administering authority.
The service is available when the resident wants or needs to meet with the village manager or administering authority; or meet with an OFTA staff member; or attend a Residential Tenancies Tribunal hearing; but is uncomfortable in doing so in the absence of assistance from a family member or friend.
The service trial will run until June 30 2008, but may be extended for a further six months depending on its progress.
Retirement village residents who think they might be eligible for the service can telephone 8305 9440.
Workplace Issues
Responsible officer training
Under the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act every governing body of a trading business in South Australia must appoint one or more responsible officers. The responsible officer must be the most senior person in the organisation residing in the state; the responsibility cannot be delegated.
The legislation requires that Responsible officers must attend an approved training course within 3 months, however transitional arrangements allow a person who was a Responsible officer as at August 15 2005 until August 15 2008 to attend a course.
The approved four hour course course covers the responsible officer’s role, the legislative framework and occupational health and safety management systems.
ACS urges you to check whether your organisation is required to comply with the legislation.
Click here for more information, or contact Robert Thorburn, Senior Project Officer OHS Skills, on 8204 9824.
ACS Education & Training Events
Papers and Presentations from ACS Forums
Papers and Presentations from some of the recently held ACS Forums are available for members only access. Click here to view the list of presentations available.
2008 ACS Program
The full events program for 2008 is available for viewing on the ACS Website Registration forms for the events will be placed on the website as they are prepared, as well as being sent to members. Please mark this page as a bookmark and return to it regularly to view any changes and additions.
Leadership Series
Being a leader takes skill, patience and perseverance. This tailored series will provide participants with a comprehensive look at what it takes to be a leader, how you lead and provide you with some very helpful tips to be the leader that inspires, participates and respects others. All sessions can be attended individually or if you wish to attend 2 or more sessions a 10% discount is provided - a 20 percent discount is provided to attend all nine. Become the Leader you want to be.
Click here for a registration flyer and program outline.
Module 8: Project Management
Date: Friday April 4 2008
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: ACS Training Room, 246 Glen Osmond Road, Fullarton
This module will be broken down into the following sections:
- Introduction to Project Management
- Defining the Project
- Planning the Project
- Implementing the Project
- Completing the Project
Module 9: Time Management
Date: Friday May 9 2008
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: ACS Training Room, 246 Glen Osmond Road, Fullarton
Topics include:
- What is Time Management?
- Six Steps to organising yourself and your time
- Effective Time Management – Goals, Tasks and Priorities
- Understanding and Managing Stress
- Building resilience
Zero Tolerance - Recognising and addressing the abuse and neglect of older people
Dates:
| April 14 2008 | 1.00-4.00pm |
| May 21 2008 | 1.00-4.00pm |
| June 16 2008 | 1.00-4.00pm |
Venue: ACS
Office, 246 Glen Osmond Road Fullarton
Conducted by Anglicare SA
Registration fees: Members $88, Non-members $154
Click here for a registration form.
Ideal for all staff, Board members, key personnel and new managers. Anglicare SA's Zero Tolerance - recognising and addressing the abuse and neglect of older people program assists individuals and agencies to meet their legal and moral obligations for notification of abuse of the elderly. The training program provides essential education in recognising and addressing the broader scope of elder abuse to ensure a preventative approach is adopted within all service delivery settings. The training also provides strategies to effectively deal with instances of elder abuse that may occur. The training program covers:
- The attitudes and values of participants and the impact when considering whether behaviour is abusive.
- The definitions and context for what constitutes abuse of the elderly.
- The legislative context in Australia for reporting abuse and neglect, including the responsibilities of individuals.
- The importance of collaborative practices in responding to the abuse of the elderly.
The Training package is presented as an interactive workshop, utilising case scenarios and applies the adult learning principles as well as having the tick of approval for its Learning, Literacy and Numeracy content.
Transition to Management
Dates: April 30, May 7 and May 14
Time: 9.00am - 4.00pm
Venue: ACS Training Room, 246 Glen Osmond Road, Fullarton
Have you recently been promoted to the role of manager or supervisor? Have you taken on new responsibilities? Are you required to manage staff or volunteers? Have you had to step up from being a 'doer' to a people manager? Are you an experienced manager who needs a refresher in management styles and dealing with people?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then you need to attend the Transition to Management program. This three day program, facilitated by Oz Train and tailored for ACS SA&NT members, will help you improve your knowledge and skills across a range of areas important for managers.
Click here for the flyer and registration form.
PowerPoint Introduction
Date: May 5
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: Innovation House, Mawson Lakes
Primarily designed for people who need to know how to use Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 to
create computer presentations, this course is ideal for people who work in positions where presenting information in an effective manner is important.
You will learn how to create a presentation, add animations, run a slide show, and print and
publish presentations.
Click here for details and registration form.
E-learning
The following recruitment courses are offered online via the ACSA e-Learning system:
- EEO – Best Practice Recruitment Guidelines
- Privacy For The Onhire and Recruitment Industry
- Effective Reference Checking
- Workchoices – Fundamentals
- Recruitment and Selection
- Develop Business Strategies To Source and Assess Candidates
- Develop Employment Management Services For Candidates
- Manage The Recruitment Process For Client Organisations
Formal Qualifications:
- Certificate IV in Business (Employment Services)
Click here for full details.
Industry Education & Training
DoHA seminars
The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency offers the following one-day seminars:
- Managing risk to avoid non-compliance
- Continuous improvement
- Evidence-based practice
They aim to equip key personnel with the skills and knowledge to improve quality of care for residents.
Click here for the seminar registration brochure. Seminars will be conducted from March through to June 2008.
For more information click here, or contact the Education Administration Officer telephone 1800 728 589 or email.
Dementia Training Study Centre
The centre offers the following professional development opportunities for health professionals:
The Spaced Retrieval Technique - One day seminar Thursday May 22, plus optional second day workshop Friday May 23.
Click here for full details and registration form.
Montessori-based Dementia Programming - One day seminar Tuesday May 20, plus optional second day workshop Wednesday May 21.
Click here for full details and registration form.
The speaker for both workshops is Cameron J Camp PhD, Director and Senior Research Scientist at Myers Research Institute, Menorah Park Centre for Senior Living, in Beachwood, Ohio.
Cultural Awareness training
By 2016, one in three people over 80 will be of CALD background. As people age they often return to their primary language and culture.
Multicultural Aged Care offers cultural awareness training to residential aged care facilities, service providers, training organisations, community groups, support workers and volunteers.
For enquiries and bookings contact MAC on 8241 9900 or by email.
NoFalls Leader Training
Active Ageing Australia® has received funding through the SA Department of Health to run NoFalls Leader Training for health and fitness professionals in South Australia at no cost to participants.
The Leader Training and manual provide a successful exercise program to promote safety for older adults, by reducing the risk of falls. It assumes a basic level of training in the delivery of physical activities.
The NoFalls training will be held on the following dates in 2008:
April 2 - Adelaide (ACS)
April 11 - Port Augusta
April 30 – Adelaide (Office for Recreation and Sport)
May 7 - Port Pirie
There are very limited funded places available for the NoFalls training under the grant and certain criteria must be met. For queries or booking forms contact Tracey at Active Ageing Australia (08) 8232 9077.
Member Services
ACS SA&NT has entered into arrangements with a range of businesses to provide cost effective and quality services to its members. Please be advised that ACS SA&NT has entered into these arrangements with a financial benefit for the Association. Currently arrangements have been made with:
Message Media - SMS Messaging
OCAR - Employment Assistance
Program
EMA Consulting - Industrial
Advice Service
SMS messaging
Does your organisation waste countless hours every week, trying to fill gaps in staff rosters? messagemedia solves this problem. Harness the speed, convenience and cost effectiveness of SMS messaging, which is unrivalled by any other communication medium. Faster than email, less intrusive and cheaper than phone calls - SMS has become an essential business tool.
Instead of phoning members of staff one by one to see if they want an extra shift, send an SMS to the staff from your PC instantly. Sending the group SMS from your PC takes seconds, you include a phone number in the message so that staff that want to work the shift can call you. In our experience the whole process including the staff member calling in takes approximately 5 minutes.
Through a joint arrangement established between ACS SA&NT and messagemedia ACS SA&NT members are able to purchase the SMS messaging product at a reduced rate of $349.00 (saving $100.00). Call 1300 767 903 to discover more about the incredible impact messagemedia will have on your organisation.
Click
here to download an expression of interest. Upon completion of this form
messagemedia will contact you.
Do you have an Employee Assistance Program?
As part of our ongoing commitment to strengthen services and opportunities for Members, ACS SA&NT is pleased to be able to provide members with access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). ACS SA&NT has entered into an agreement with Access OCAR Workplace Consulting to provide an EAP to members at a substantially reduced rate. (Payment is made on a quartlery basis)
An EAP is a confidential counselling service designed to offer an effective means of assisting employees with problems that may eventually affect job performance and personal well-being. Employees have access to qualified counsellors who are located outside of their workplace and are trained to help people identify and resolve their problems. It has been advised that the Unions are in favour of EAP in businesses and often quality and standards accreditation also favour EA programs.
Access OCAR Workplace Consulting will provide the services of the EAP to members who join this service.
Click here to download an expression of interest form. Upon completion of this form OCAR will contact you to commence the service.
Industrial Advice Service
Since July1, 2006 EMA Consulting has been providing ACS Members with Industrial Relations Assistance. EMA consultants are highly qualified, trained, experienced and are contemporary leaders in their profession. As an ACS Member, you have access to EMA for the following services:
Telephone Advisory Service
- Unlimited access to discuss any Industrial Relations topic
- Deal with IR Consultants
- No charge per call ~ generally limited to 15 minutes per issue. If it does take longer than this, it generally means the issue is complex and you need to get specific advice.
Wage Rate Summary
- Nurses (ANF ~ SA Private Sector)
- Nurses SA
- Clerks SA
- Health Service Employees
EMA will provide consulting services for all ACS Members at a discounted hourly rate of $175 per hour, which is a saving of $50 per hour. This includes access to a full range of user pays services such as AWAs, training, workers compensation, disputes and collective agreements.
Simply contact EMA with your organisation's name and provide your client access number as shown on your client card (sent with your renewal of membership for 07/08). If you do not know your client number please contact Kellie Kulinski.
Telephone (VIP toll free number) 1800
632 812
Advisory Service (08) 8221
6565
Telephone (08) 8221 6665
Facsimile (08 8221 6660
Website www.emaconsulting.com.au