The new Aged Care Quality Standards, which came into effect on 1 July 2019, place a much greater focus on the individual consumer, their family and support network. This means that how aged care service providers engage with consumers is under the microscope, and providers will need to find new ways of creating partnerships with consumers, their families, and communities.

In 2018, COTA Queensland was commissioned by The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (which have now become part of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission) to develop and run a one-day workshop for service providers on Enhancing Consumer Engagement. The main aim of the workshop was to give aged care staff and managers the knowledge, skills and practical tools to develop their own consumer engagement practice and support other staff to do the same.

17 workshops were held around Australia involving 275 aged care staff and managers. The participants left the workshops with greater knowledge and understanding about engagement and how it could be done, and importantly, also with greater confidence to create change and to support others in their organisations to create change. Our evaluation summary report will shortly.

The Enhancing Consumer Engagement Workshops used a range of specifically developed resources designed to support aged care managers and staff to develop their knowledge and confidence. We are now working with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to publish these resources and make them freely available to aged care services.

Access the resources here.