COVID-19 in Aged Care Project

The Challenge:

Aged care facilities in Victoria were exposed to COVID-19 during 2020 and entire workforces were required to quarantine at short notice. The Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association of Australia & NZ (RCSA) worked with the government to match aged care facilities with approved agencies to quickly provide trained temporary staff to replace workers subjected to mandatory quarantine.

The Solution:

The Risk Collective’s founder, Amy Towers was retained as a risk advisor for RCSA during this time. Under this role, Amy:

• Created a risk advisory process and developed standards for information sharing and communication between RCSA and the government on potential exposure to risk for both staffing agencies and temporary workers.

• Facilitated a working group comprising representatives from the Commonwealth Government, Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services, RCSA, Leading Aged Care Services Australia, WorkSafe Victoria and staffing agencies. The working group discussed industry-wide issues, made quick decisions and recommendations, identified gaps in processes and facilitated communication of ongoing changes as the situation evolved.

The Result:

Better communication, faster decision making and more engagement across a range of key stakeholders during a period of significant change.