The Anchor Excellence Workforce Demand Analysis tool will assist you to connect your workforce to your consumers’ needs, support the delivery of safe and quality care that meets the Aged Care Quality standards, in particular, 7(3)(a) and ensure you have an efficient and effective workforce plan. 

Aged Care Quality Standard  7(3)(a)  

The workforce is planned to enable, and the number and mix of members of the workforce deployed enables, the delivery and management of safe and quality care and services.

• • Higher operating costs or operating losses
  • An increase in incidents resulting from staffing shortages and inefficient practices
  • Non-compliance notifications
  • An increase in consumer or families complaints
  • Staff retention or recruitment challenges

 The Anchor Workforce Demand Analysis Tool will provide you with the solution you need. 

Workforce is a key element, as direct care wages will always be your largest cost. Ensuring you have an effective and efficient workforce that connects to your consumers’ need and preferences is critical to successfully delivering both quality care and maintaining a sustainable financial performance.  With the AN-ACC case-mix funding model, the introduction of mandatory care minutes and a continued ‘tightening’ of the compliance environment, understanding your workforce productivity underpins your entire operational framework.  Conducting an analysis of your workforce productivity will help you to identify opportunities to deliver cost savings without impacting the quality of care. Consider the questions below;

• • Are you providing the right level and quality of care to meet your consumers’ needs?
  • Are you utilising your care staff effectively (even if you are meeting your required care minutes)?
  • Do you know if you have inefficient direct care processes, costing you money and potential compliance or reputational risk?
  • When staff ask for more staff to meet consumer’s needs do you have any evidence to confirm the request?
  • Do you know how to flex your workforce when you have occupancy and consumer needs changes?
  • How well are you managing to balance financial outcomes and providing safe and quality care?

The Anchor Excellence Workforce Demand Analysis Tool is the solution you need to manage your workforce effectively and minimise wage wastage, manage AN-ACC and the allocation of care minutes and support your consumer’s safe and quality care. 

The tool maps your consumer’s care needs and calculates the estimated care minutes for each consumer. The analysis tool has been developed on a “bottom up” approach. It calculates the minimum staffing requirement for each community and the entire home based on your consumers’ unique care needs. This staffing requirement can be then benchmarked against your current roster and care minutes under AN-ACC to see what opportunities and requirements exist.   

The Workforce Demand Analysis Tool will assist you in;

• • Identifying opportunities for operating efficiencies and improved productivity in your workforce resulting in potential cost savings
  • Displaying what your minimum roster should look like and provide you with a roster that meets your consumers’ care needs
  • Exposing inefficient practices and processes, the allocation of resources and redeployment of staff
  • Showing you the estimated care minutes by individual consumers’, which can be then be benchmarked against your current roster and regulated care minutes
  • Identify opportunities for consumers to be re-assessed under AN-ACC
  • Meeting Aged Care Quality Standards requirement 7(3)(a) – “Number and mix of workforce” (which is in the top 3 requirements where non-compliance was found)
  • Supporting your HR function
  • Enhancing consumer health outcomes and consumer satisfaction
  • Providing transparency to help engagement and understanding with care staff

The Anchor Workforce Demand Analysis Tool is flexible and can be tailored to your service, and benchmarked, connects your workforce to your consumers’ needs, and supports your compliance and the delivery of safe and quality care.