Who are our clients?
The team at LINK has been doing excellent work analysing and reporting on who our clients are. Looking at the past 12 months of clients who received at least one service, several key insights stand out:
- Gender profile: Approximately 71% of our clients are female. This aligns with broader aged care demographics (allowing for some rounding in calculations).
- Client growth: We have seen strong growth in our Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) numbers, now at 2,553 clients. This reflects the outstanding work of our Business Development team in presenting to and converting clients from Retirement Villages, Probus groups and Seniors Clubs.
- Support for Carers (S4C): An exceptional effort has been made in delivering services to our non-paid carer community, both locally and regionally. This remains an important and valued part of our service offering.
- Cultural diversity: While English remains the primary language spoken at home, we are seeing continued growth in Mandarin/Chinese and Filipino/Tagalog-speaking cohorts over the past two years. This reflects the changing demographics within our service areas.
- Geographical spread: The majority of our clients are based across northern and western metropolitan Melbourne. We also support cleaning clients in the Mornington Peninsula and carers in Bendigo, Geelong and Morwell.
We will continue to analyse this data — not only to understand our community better, but to acknowledge, respond to and celebrate the diversity within our service delivery
Incidents – FY26 Year to Date
Incident reporting and response at LINK is part of our ongoing commitment to Continuous Improvement. It is something we must all take ownership of and actively participate in.
LINK operates within the national Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) — a sector-wide framework aimed at preventing and reducing abuse and neglect of older Australians receiving government-funded aged care services. The scheme requires providers to have robust incident management systems and to notify the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission of eight specific categories of serious incidents.
Further SIRS refresher training information will be shared shortly.
The FY26 year-to-date data shows that all but two incidents have now been closed. Incident categories include:
- Client Health – client injuries or illness-related incidents
- Vehicle Related – scrapes, collisions, damage or theft
- Client Complaints – complaints about LINK services or fellow clients
- Staff Injury – primarily outings hosts or gardeners injured onsite
- Property Damage – damage to client property while onsite
- Staff Complaints – concerns raised by staff about clients or colleagues
- Outings – incidents during Group Social Outings
- DA/HM – Domestic Assistance / Home Maintenance
- HR – Human Resources matters
Reporting is essential — but response and prevention are equally important. Actions taken include:
- Proactive collaboration with venue partners
- Earlier reassessment of clients’ physical capacity for activities
- Re-emphasis and training on Professional Boundaries
- Real-time and annual feedback for drivers regarding near misses and incidents
While we will always strive to prevent incidents, service delivery to an older cohort means some incidents are inevitable. What defines LINK is our commitment to mitigation, dignity, timely response and continuous improvement.
Thank you to everyone who contributes responsibly and professionally in this space.
Quick Updates
- Incident Forms – Please continue to complete incident forms promptly, mindfully and as accurately as possible. The form and process are currently under review, with updates to be communicated shortly. Feedback is welcome via support@lct.org.au
- Dashcams – Installation is complete. The first driver workshop and feedback session has occurred, and we are awaiting vendor feedback. Final settings will be confirmed before a formal launch communication to all drivers.
- Pipeworks Car Park Gate – The landlord is finalising access arrangements following installation of the electric security gate. Once confirmed, we will communicate the access process to all impacted staff, volunteers and students — particularly those arriving early or leaving late.
- Client Satisfaction Survey – 93% of our clients rated each and all of you 4 or 5 starts out of 5 in the October to December 2025 period. The next quarter’s results will be published in the April newsletter. Well done to you all for your excellent but also heartfelt service delivery.
- Parking Reminder – please park at an angle near the Harvey Norman fence line to help optimise available spaces for staff, volunteers and students.
Goodbye (After Four Years)
I began at LINK as a volunteer in late 2021 before moving to a full-time role in July 2022. Over these four years, there have been many wonderful memories. It’s true what they say — when you leave, it’s the people you miss most.
Thank you to everyone I have had the pleasure to meet, work alongside and lead at LINK. My philosophy has always been to place the client first, and I know each of you demonstrates that commitment every single day. I hope to see many of you before I go. If I don’t, please accept this as my heartfelt thank you and farewell. I wish you and your families every success and happiness in the future.
LINK is in very good hands with Fiona Fisher as our new CEO and her leadership team. But most importantly, it is you — the LINK family — who continue to show up for our clients each day.
I will truly miss you all.
