A Busy and Exciting Time at LINK
What a busy few months it has been since our last newsletter!
Of course, one of the biggest changes has been our new home in Preston. And what a wonderful start it has been! An enormous amount of planning and work went into the move in a very short period of time, and thanks to everyone’s support, it was incredibly successful and almost uneventful! A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the transition so smooth.
The feedback from our clients and volunteers has been fabulous. We have received so many positive comments about how modern, clean, bright and welcoming the new office is. One client even commented that they felt like they were in Toorak!
Downstairs is looking fantastic too — part fabulous coffee shop, part five-star warehouse facility. Our warehouse really does look more like a showroom, and it is wonderful to see the new space being used so well.
Great news for CHSP
We have received the very welcome news that the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) will continue until 2029.
I recently attended the CHSP National Conference, where both the Minister and Shadow Minister spoke about the continuation of the program. While we are still waiting for further detail about the future funding structure, this gives us important certainty that we can continue delivering the services our clients rely on.
There are also some important areas we will need to focus on as we prepare LINK for the future:
- Improving our data integrity and ensuring the information in our systems is accurate and meaningful.
- Growing our CHSP service delivery across the eastern and Loddon Mallee LGA’s.
- Communicating more simply with our clients, particularly when explaining complex government changes and reforms.
- Building stronger partnerships with other service providers.
- Strengthening the services we deliver today so they remain sustainable into the future.
- Understanding our true unit costs and pricing so that our services reflect the real cost of delivery.
- Making better use of AI and technology to reduce manual processes, duplication and our reliance on spreadsheets.
One of the messages that particularly resonated with me at the conference came from Age Discrimination Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald, who spoke about shifting our thinking from ageing to longevity and considering how we can better support people to live longer, connected and meaningful lives.
Thank you to our students
I would also like to thank the very large group of students who have completed placements with LINK over the past three months. They have brought energy, enthusiasm and additional support across many areas of the organisation.
Moving forward, we will reduce the number of students we host at any one time. This will better suit our new Preston office and allow us to provide a more structured, supported and meaningful placement experience.
Quality, incidents and feedback
Centro Assist is working well, and collectively staff are doing a great job of reporting incidents, feedback and other quality matters. Good reporting helps us identify risks, learn from what happens and continually improve the way we support our clients.
We will provide some further training on compulsory and mandatory reporting requirements at our next LINK Lunch, Learn & Connect.
And on the most important question — what should we have for lunch this time? Suggestions are very welcome!
Improving how we understand and support our clients
We will also soon introduce our new Intake and Assessment Form.
The new form will help us gather more meaningful information about the people we support, including understanding their level of social connection and loneliness and incorporating appropriate screening for elder abuse and other risks.
Importantly, we will also place greater focus on ensuring that both new and existing clients understand all of the services LINK can offer them, rather than only the service they originally contacted us about.
We have also started introducing additional client pick-up points, helping to reduce travel times and make our outings and services easier and more enjoyable for clients.
There is a lot happening, but there is also a lot to be excited about. We have a fantastic new home, greater certainty about the future of CHSP and many opportunities to strengthen the way we work.
Thank you to everyone for your flexibility, hard work and continued commitment to our clients, volunteers and community.
