Prosperity

We have continued to support the Federal Government’s development of the new in-home aged care, Support at Home, program. We are advocating for increased funding for in-home aged care, up to the level of residential aged care funding, to provide older Australians with choice, and to relieve pressures on the hospital system.

We also see great benefit in the integration of health information (My Health Record) and an expanded and improved aged care client portal, allowing continuity through care transitions to ensure best quality care. This improved aged care client portal, including secure linkages to provider systems, is fundamental to enable multiple providers to communicate simply and efficiently and deliver safe and connected care to older Australians.

We are strong advocates for the role of the care partner and see they will have a critical function in understanding the holistic needs of their clients and connecting with health care providers outside of aged care such as GPs and hospital staff.

We also support the use of a team-based approach to care partners, with a mix of clinical and non-clinical care partners matched to a client’s complexity and risk, to efficiently use sector resources.

In addition to our work to help reform the health and aged care system for all Australians, we also looked internally at how we can better support and embrace diversity amongst our clients and employees.

This year we launched our first Community Impact and Inclusion strategy.

Our approach is to create and promote inclusion through the workplace and our service delivery, enabling people to fully participate, feel valued, respect and a sense of belonging.

At Silverchain we are also mindful of climate change and any health risks that this may impose on our community. In this financial year, we undertook an assessment of our impact on the environment using insights to develop a Sustainability Strategy that will enable us to take practical actions to use our resources across our operations efficiently, while continuing to provide high quality care. Initiatives already implemented include:

solar power generation at our Maddington, Bunbury, and Greenfields service bases in Western Australia
working towards green or offset electricity with a new provider selected in Croydon, Victoria
implementing a waste management plan to divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill
development of a green lease scorecard to improve sustainability performance across Silverchain’s leased sites for all new and renewed leases
transitioning to a sustainable fleet of vehicles with 43 new hybrid vehicles with another 136 on order
partnering with Upparel to recycle old uniforms to avoid them ending up in landfill.

Silverchain team members supporting the uniform recycling initiative.

Fundraising

Fundamental to everything we do at Silverchain is our belief that everyone deserves the right to receive the care they need to live well for longer in the place of their choice – their home.

In partnership with our donors, Silverchain has been leading home care advancements for more than a century.

Our ambition is to create a better home care system for all Australians. World class care, backed by our research, with the needs and preferences of our clients – our family, friends, and loved ones – at the heart of everything we do.

With the generous support of our donors, Silverchain is creating meaningful change for Australians who prefer to receive care at home.

This year, our supporters helped Silverchain researchers explore solutions to the growing mental health needs of our clients.

The first of its kind in Australia, the ‘enhanced management of home-based elders with depression’ – or EMBED model – is an innovative and sustainable model of care that aims to facilitate early detection and use of evidence-based treatment of depression in older Australians who receive aged care in their home.

Donations received helped Silverchain to invest in our clients’ wellbeing and use digital technology to provide better care.

We have also been able to trial new health technologies including smart glasses. Smart glasses are an advanced telehealth tool that let nurses communicate hands free with our service base to receive specialist clinical advice in real time while they are with a client.

Donations from across the community are helping Silverchain provide more comprehensive care, freeing up clinical specialists to be there for multiple clients in one day without the restriction of travel time and distance.

For more information about supporting Silverchain's work, vist the Silverchain Foundation website by clicking here.