CHAIR: Kaz Mackay, Eastern Community Legal Centre

Service Coordination Practitioners Network
MINUTES 21 November 2016 /

DATE: Monday 21 November 2016, 9.30 to 11.30 am
LOCATION:Horticultural Centre, Forest Hill

Attendance:

Name / Organisation / Name / Organisation / Name / Organisation
Aidan Searle / Care Complete / Karen Conte / Palliative Care Consortium / NyreeShandley / Uniting Age Well
Anne Muldowney / Carers Vic / Kaz MacKay / ECLC / Rae Harrison / Villa Maria Catholic Homes
Debra Coddington / Carrington Health / Kerrie Kingdom / Boroondara Council / Raymond Meyers / Benetas
Devika Kumar / Eastern Melbourne PHN / Kindeep Kaur / Monash Council / Robyn Spoor / Manningham Council
Fiona White / Own Body / Lawrence Lee / Carrington Health / Sharyn Davey-Sharman / City of Whitehorse
Geraldine Jeremiah / Migrant Information Centre / Leonie Legge / Balwyn Evergreen Centre / Tracy King / Home Instead Senior Care
Glenda Plavin / Uniting Age Well / Meagan Venes / Tabulum & Templar Homes for the Aged / Wanling Zhang / Migrant Information Centre
Heather Whitney / Central East ACAS / Michelle Warry / Villa Maria Catholic Homes
APOLOGIES: / 11 Apologies were received
ITEM / DESCRIPTION: / ACTION:
1 Welcome & Introductions / Kaz Mackay chaired the meeting. Lee Stephenson is an apology.
Kaz welcomed everyone.
2 Minutes of Previous Meeting / Previous Minutes were approved by the group.
3 Presentation / Anne Muldowney, Carers Victoria
OVERVIEW OF CURRENT PLANS FOR CARER SUPPORT SERVICES
Anne provided copies of the draft model. See attached.
Some points to note:

Productivity Commissionrecommended carer support centres which have still have not been implemented
Do have aged care reforms and NDIS being implemented
Some issues, especially navigation
Initial work - developing carer support services to leverage on the existing 54 CRCC around Australia. Carelinkwas removed and resources went into MAC
4-5 years down the track still waiting for the next stage of development
Carer Support is responsibility of Department of Social Services. For updates subscribe to their e-news separately to other aged care reform news.

National Carer Counselling Program & some smaller programs such as respite for people under age 25/mental health support/young carers - looking at rolling all in together into 4 national programs (see handout):

Educational
Info & advice especially online
National Infrastructure program including Carer Gateway; website and online support tools; self-assessment tools; shared carer record. Principle good but some issues such as person being cared for has record with MAC or other agency.
Regional hubs will replace CRCC; part commissioning role based on local requirements; connecting carers to other services outside of specific carer support; will focus on short term and emergency respite; planned respite will be directed to the relevant service system that support the person they care for.

Aiming to target carers earlier and be more preventive before getting to crisis.
FEEDBACK ON PROPOSED CHANGES:
DSS is asking for feedback on the new framework of support services. There is an Online Survey with a section for service providers to complete. Go to:

Closes 16 December.
QUESTIONS TO GROUP - What works currently, what is proposed and where they meet or not meet the needs, where are the gaps, encourage to put in a submission.
QUESTIONS FROM GROUP:

What does it mean for Vic based state funded programs? One reference to these and many of these were HACC funded previously; Vic Support for Carers program tends to leverage off other program areas ie additional funding to run carer groups/day centres/respite/education.
Existing HACC programs have rolled over to CHSP.
RAS doesn't have service coordination role.
Will there be fee changes for clients on packages? Not approved changes at this stage. May change when programs merge in future.
Any proposal to look at quality of care, particularly with regard to potential for elder abuse. No investigations by Centrelink; ALRC enquiry into elder abuse has received this question about powers of Centrelink; health professional have to sign off on application process.
Model seems to have very limited service delivery? There may be some targeted financial support and for workforce participation.
Will the model include assistance to help carers access services? Very little in model to do this especially for people with barriers to accessing services. Suggesting service delivery providers will do this but issue that providers aren't specifically funded to do this.

Anne also asked the group about any anecdotal information on access to Residential Respite and whether options are limited - ACAS has had more requests for people in hospital to go to respite to try residential care facilities before being offered a permanent bed. Also allows time to have Centrelink assessment; people with dementia and severe behavioural issues won't be taken into respite. /
4 Presentation / Robyn Spoor –Coordinator Assessment Services, Manningham Council
COMMONWEALTH HOME SUPPORT PROGRAM (CHSP)UPDATE FROM COUNCIL PERSPECTIVE
See powerpoint attached.
Key difference is the separation of assessment from service delivery at local government.
Funded hours split by age (under and over 65 years).
Key points:

CHSP should not exceed lowest package cost ($7000 per year) therefore limiting hours for some clients.
Some new names for services eg. escorted shopping is part of social support individual in program manual; need to find a way to make the referral; Ring the provider to ask if you are unsure.
MAC is making some assumptions that some services are available and are telling people that services are available but may not exist in local area; clients are getting frustrated.
Access to CHSP provided by being registered with MAC, have assessment with RAS or ACAS, can access some services if urgently needed (meals, personal care, transport); inconsistencies from contact centre.
Direct to service referrals - Manningham is accepting for some; Whitehorse have received many for range of services and are triaging those; Monash depends on structure of service/assessmentbut are accepting some direct to service referrals; Boroondara do accept some but prefer for MAC if not urgent.
Allied health/nursing only (no modifications) can be direct to service eg to community health.
RAS also assessing for state funded programs or other relevant programs; don't do service specific assessments (more like ACAS model).
Access & Support referrals have to go via RAS/ACAS.

Discussion about allied health referrals (see information attached also):

Home modifications via CHSP need ACAS or RAS assessment to be actioned. RAS do referral to OT for assessment and then request a review to facilitate referral for home modification. This has not been working well and is being reviewed as modifications can get held up by waiting for RAS review. At Carrington Health the OTs prefer referrals via MAC portal as it is more straightforward for feedback
Group agreed that there are currently too many pathways and it is confusing. Preference from group to get everyone onto MAC if possible with client record so the pathways are known.
Note that Community Health has a variety of funding streams (not only CHSP). See attached information from Lawrence.

Also note:

Personal Alarm referrals can still be made via S2S

Other nursing clinics can be accessed outside of MAC
UNDER 65 YEARS - no changes
DVA are not on portal and no clear guidelines. Contact DVA directly.

/

5 Service Soap Box / Heather Whitney – ACAS
Commonwealth is in the process of sending people letters regarding waitlist for home care packages. People approved since 1 July 2016 will be placed in package queue automatically. If approved prior to that time they will have to opt in to be in the queue.4 variations of letters are going out. May be confusing for some clients. Have got information from Medicare, even if they have died. Not in other languages.
Karen Conte - Palliative Care Consortium
Planning an event on 23 February in conjunction with Home Instead Consortium. Focus will be on “death literacy”. Using humour.Will be aimed at the general public; opportunities for information tables for providers.
Raymond Meyers – Benetas
Offering Level 2 packages but clients are refusing because they are getting more on CHSP. Department have released some information about this which is confusing. Also an issue for CHSP providers to get clients to move onto packages, particularly around higher feeds on packages. This will probably change in future when it will be required to move off CHSP to get a package.
6 IEPCP Update / NEW IEPCP WEBSITE
Inner East PCP has a new website –
There is a page for Service Coordination Practitioners Network. Still adding some resources but main information will be there.
Note that you can add your events to the calendar. Just email Sharon.
EMR OLDER PERSONS HEALTH & WELLBEING NEEDS ANALYSIS
The draft report for this research has been completed and is on limited release. Workshop to be held end of November (invite only). Aim to develop some collaborative projects for implementation next year.
7 Other Business / SEEKING NEW SECRETARIAT/REFERENCE GROUP PARTICIPANTS
The Network has a small group of practitioners who act as the Secretariat, providing support to Sharon in planning the meetings. Current Secretariat are Lee Stephenson, Kaz MacKay and Jenny Linossier. All are willing to continue in this role.
The Secretariat will change to be called a Reference Group from 2017 when we review the Charter for the Network.
It would be good to have 2 more members of this group. Please let Sharon know if you can help. There is not much additional work. Perhaps 2 meetings per year (with coffee) and email discussions/decision making. This group also chair the meetings.
8 Next Meeting / Monday 20 February 2017, 9.30 – 11.30am
Horticultural Centre, 82 Jolimont Road, Forest Hill

Minutes recorded by: Sharon Porteous, Inner East PCP: or (03) 8843 2254

Telephone: +61 (03) 8843 2305 Email: 43 Carrington Rd, Box Hill VIC 3128