Speak Out April 2016

In Focus - Aged care

our coffee helper gets coffee ready at the start of the group. The group hosts an annual poetry recital – a wonderful afternoon shared with family, friends and staff. We choose a theme for poems and spend several weeks in the lead up practising. The residents love it and they always talk about it fondly for months afterwards.

How has the club benefitted residents and the organisation?

The group has fostered a real sense of belonging and friendship – valued by all. Feedback from members has been overwhelmingly positive. For example, one member stated “A family attitude is established. It is like a big family. Feels like belonging to a family.” Residents and staff perceive benefits for the residents’ speech, communication, and wellbeing. For the organisation, it has also meant greater awareness of communication needs in residents, with staff now identifying which residents are at risk of a communication difficulty and referring them on to the club. Winning the Better Practice Award has given great publicity to the service, with media coverage. This has strengthened commitment from senior levels of the organisation to continue to fund the program. Also, due to the success of the club, the facility is now very happy and excited to allow me to be a clinical educator for six undergraduate speech pathology students from the Australian Catholic University. For all of the above reasons! Mainly I think because it is truly a person centred group. The individuals are totally accepted and supported for who they are and encouraged to communicate in whatever way they can. No one is excluded. This creates a feeling of being seen and appreciated for who they are, which can be lacking in an aged care environment due to the many demands on staff. This is an hour where each resident receives attention and feels a true sense of belonging. The support of the aged care service staff is also essential, helping with set up and some of the group logistics. What tips would you have for other speech pathologists considering a similar innovation? Don’t be afraid to be innovative! Have ideas, think big, and then approach management with your ideas, backed up with evidence. Start up a conversation club, or working with the recreation officer to create a supportive communication environment for residents. Funding will always be an issue, but you never know until you ask! Ruth, thank you so much for sharing your insights and this wonderful achievement. Celebrating the success of aged care clinical innovations like this plays an important role in showcasing to the sector the vital importance of communication and the role of speech pathology in aged care. Congratulations once more and we look forward to hearing how the Conversation Club continues to evolve into the future. I’m sure this fantastic achievement will inspire and assist many other speech pathologists to undertake similar innovations. Please contact Ruth if you would like more information about the Conversation Club and the Uniting Wesley Heights award. Email: ruthhartman7@gmail.com Why do you think the group has been such a success?

The Australian Government Department of Health recently released a statement regarding recruitment of Allied Health Professionals from self- regulating professions, such as speech pathology, in the aged care sector. The statement included comment that services provided by both registered and self-regulating professions should be valued equally, and reiterated that entry to the National Regulation and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) is based on potential risk to the public, not on the quality or standards of the profession. The statement in part read, "The review of the NRAS recognised that there are unintended consequences of registration where non-regulated AHPs are treated differently to regulated professions. In August 2015, all Health Ministers agreed to encourage the fair treatment of all health care professionals to ensure that the absence of registration is not the sole factor for exclusion." This is an extremely positive message for speech pathology as it affirms the standards of our profession. To read the full statement go to: http://us10.campaign-archive1.m/?u=1108de8332c ef333bc1956686&id=8f4b0eb0eb Speech pathology professional standards affirmed

Jade Cartwright National Advisor Aged Care

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Speak Out April 2016

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au