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Brian 1st Dec 2017 Activities Coordinator
Hi everyone I'm the lifestyle officer at a privately owned aged care facility in northern NSW. Recently had a visit from the agency, were with us for a week went though every thing with a fine tooth comb as a consequence every section did not meet the expected out comes, lot of work to do! In my 12 years at this facility I have never known then to be this ruthless, 8 months ago on their previous visit we passed all 44 standards. has anyone experienced the same scrutiny. I get the feeling that the department has an agender.
Thanks Brian
Susan 2nd Dec 2017 Activity Director
Hi Brian
I cannot speak to NSW
However in the United States the surveyors can be quite picky at times
One of my colleagues who had been working as an activity director for 20 years had great notes but one of her people was out sick and she did not get the support from the other staff so she got some deficiencies
Hang in there do what you're supposed to do and you should be fine
Darla 17th Dec 2017 Recreation and Rehab Manager
Hey Brian,
Perhaps you could see this as a good experience. If you are being audited, then your department is expected to be accountable. This may mean your department is respected and valued.

When licensing or auditing accreditation comes to our facility, Activities and Day Program is NEVER considered or even looked at. Licensing may looked at the environment in which patients, clients, and residents frequent, but never bother with the paperwork.

I have worked in past for a job where we were audited often, and this allowed us to strive to be successful and better at meeting our client needs; different work altogether than health services.

Being a leader and seeing this as a positive experience will model for others the benefits of auditing and accreditation.
Good Luck to you!
Lynda 8th Jan 2018 Recreation Officer
Hi Brian, we had a similar experience. I have been where I am 15 years and always passed with flying colours but not this time. We went through accreditation twice in 6 months because of that. We come undone I think mainly because at the time of the first visit, which was unannounced, we had some very challenging behaviours at the time and we didn't have the support from medical professionals or the expertise to deal with a multitude of problems at that time. In some ways, it was good to come undone, because it meant that action had to be taken to address the things we were all saying needed to change. In my department, I was actually given an extra staff member to assist in that unit 7 days a week. We also had more funding put into the unit to spend on specialised equipment and some structural changes have also been made to assist with the noise levels. It has been a hard 6 months with lots of work done, but we have just passed our second round and given 12 months, so that's a relief. Hope Brian that this might give you some hope that even though you may have received a poor report this time, good things can come out of it. All the best. Lynda

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