While COVID-19 has seen some home care providers reduce their service offering, it’s business as usual at Programmed Care. By enhancing our hygiene practices and adopting a range of new precautionary measures, we’re able to safely maintain our high standards of care to our existing client base, while also continuing to onboard new clients each week.
Here are some of the features we’ve incorporated into our care delivery model:
Two-way communication
As we support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, the continued health of our workforce is vital. Through regular communication with our staff over phone, email and SMS, we provide them with important updates such as how to stay healthy and what to do if they become unwell. We check that each employee is fit for work by asking a series of screening questions before placing them into a shift.
In turn, our employees have been great at getting in touch with us for advice on their situation. If through our criteria, an employee is deemed unfit for work, they are taken out of all future shifts, and their work status is changed to inactive until they can provide the appropriate clearance for work. After each client visit, staff hand over detailed notes to a Programmed Care Coordinator for review.
Face to Face visits
Upcoming client visits are reviewed daily and always in consideration of their needs. Where safe to do so, we have returned to a full face-to-face operating model, ensuring infection control procedures are upheld. For clients who prefer to receive services via telehealth, we continue to provide support in this way. We can also tailor our services with a combination of telehealth and face-to-face visitations where appropriate.
Pre-visit calls
Our nurses and support workers looking after veterans or aged clients now phone 30 minutes ahead of any visit to check they are feeling OK and have not been in contact with a suspected or known case of COVID-19. The same questions are asked of our Disability Support clients where upon arrival, our workers knock on the door, stand back two metres and only enter the premises once they have the all clear.
To maintain continuity of services for any clients displaying symptoms or those that are awaiting testing or results, the visiting team member will don the appropriate PPE before entering the premises.
Continuous education
The most important aspect of keeping our community safe is education. All our nurses and support workers conducting home visits have completed the mandatory Department of Health COVID-19 Infection Control Training module. Our care team also takes the opportunity to educate our clients and their families on best practice control measures and any government updates.
Provision of PPE
As a result of COVID-19, many of our most vulnerable clients have not been able to access PPE through their regular channels. We’ve been able to leverage off our supplier relationships to provide our clients with much needed PPE such as gloves, sanitiser and alcohol wipes.
Programmed Care continues to evolve amongst this everchanging health landscape, and we are proud to support the safety and wellbeing not only of our clients and their families, but also the communities in which they live.
If you or a loved one is in need of care, contact the Programmed Care team today on:
Tel: 13 10 95
Or visit programmed.com.au/care
