The Catholic Healthcare Board wishes to thank the Consumer Advisory Body (CAB), which met in April this year in both face-to-face and online sessions, for their valued feedback on Catholic Healthcare services. The Catholic Healthcare Board has now reviewed the information gathered at these sessions and has responded.
The feedback identified several areas for improvement: supporting care workers, enhancing communication, and increasing flexibility and clarity in service delivery.
Specific areas noted for improvement in home care services include:
- Consistency in care workers is essential—clients value having the same care worker who understands their needs and preferences.
- Effective and timely communication is critical, especially around service delays, schedule changes, and resolving queries.
- Transparency in service delivery is needed, particularly regarding ‘who’s who’ in the care team—care workers, advisors, managers, and leadership.
- Greater awareness of available services and sector updates was also requested.
The Catholic Healthcare Board is actively working on several initiatives to address the CAB’s feedback, and these include:
1. Consistency and Person-Centred Care:
- We are developing a new ‘excellence in customer service’ training program for our employees, which will commence in the next few months.
- Newly introduced systems give care workers improved access to client information, allowing more personalised care.
- A team-based care management approach has been introduced in Northern NSW, South Sydney, and Southwest Sydney regions. This approach gives clients reliable access to a dedicated team of care advisors, allowing quicker responses and solutions to their enquiries and requests. The rollout of the team approach will continue over the next 12 months.
2. Effective Communication:
- A new telephony system will be rolled out by the end of 2025 to improve two-way communication and enable faster access to the right team and information. The solution will allow clients to access certain service-related information outside business hours.
- Enhancements to the Catholic Healthcare (CHL) App are planned, including real-time notifications for schedule changes, to keep you better informed as and when needed.
3. Transparency and Service Awareness:
- In October 2025, more details about your service teams will be provided in easy-to-access formats, including photo IDs for care workers, a glossary of terms, and simplified access to your Catholic Healthcare contact points.
- An improved visual guide to our services is being developed, which will be ready by October 2025.
- Clients should notice improved experiences from these initiatives within the next six months.
CAB feedback creates meaningful change
The Catholic Healthcare Board thanks our CAB for helping shape our care and support, and driving improvement to create more responsive, transparent, and person-centred home care services.