In Home Care, Who Are We? proposed by Whiddon Laurieton team member Jenny Cooper, is celebrating the lives and experiences of clients and staff members through a collection of personal stories and photographs.
Ten stories are now ready for publication, with positive feedback from clients, families and team members. The project has demonstrated the value of creating a tangible record of clients’ lives and memories and sharing those stories with other clients and Whiddon communities. There are also opportunities to expand the concept across other regions and potentially introduce audio and multilingual editions.
Other Whiddon Spark initiatives demonstrate how frontline observations can lead to practical improvements in safety and connection.
Whiddon Laurieton Residential Care team member Nerida Wallace proposed resident photo identification cards for use when residents are out in the community. Developed following a resident fall, the concept is designed to provide an accessible way to identify residents and their Whiddon home during outings, supporting an additional layer of safety. A prototype has been shared with residents and families and received strong support.
At Whiddon’s Mudgee home, Support Services team member Prabesh Bokati proposed Swap-a-Skill Fridays, giving colleagues the opportunity to spend 15 to 20 minutes swapping a simple task with someone from another department to better understand different roles and build greater appreciation across the workforce. Now being piloted at Mudgee, the low-cost initiative is generating growing interest, with feedback from the trial set to inform opportunities for broader rollout.
Together, the initiatives illustrate the breadth of ideas emerging from Whiddon’s workforce, from preserving and sharing personal histories and strengthening connection with families, to supporting resident safety and providing greater cohesion in the workforce.
Karn Nelson, Executive General Manager, Research & Positive Ageing at Whiddon, said the program and its success demonstrated the value of giving frontline teams the opportunity to shape innovation.
“The people delivering care are often the first to see where something could be safer, simpler, more connected or more meaningful. They are experiencing these moments every day, so they have an incredibly valuable perspective on where improvements can be made.
“What has been particularly interesting about Whiddon Spark is how well our workforce community responded to the concept of “quick wins”, quick and simple ideas that can have big impact. They don’t necessarily require significant investment or complex technology; they require us to listen, create space for ideas and give people the opportunity to test something different.”
She continues, noting the transition from ideas to implementation was an important part of the initiative:
“What we are seeing now is these ideas moving into real care environments. They are being tested by the people who will ultimately deliver and experience them, and that feedback is allowing the ideas to evolve and potentially be adopted more quickly than more traditional methods of introducing centralised innovation and improvements.
“For us, that is what meaningful innovation looks like; listening to our workforce and communities, learning from their experience and turning good ideas into practical improvements for residents, clients, families and teams.”
Importantly, Whiddon Spark is not predicated on every idea being implemented exactly as originally proposed. The development process provides an opportunity to develop and test concepts in practice, gather feedback and adapt them based on what works in practice and in a real-world setting.
This has allowed ideas to evolve as they move from concept to implementation, ensuring that innovation remains grounded in the realities of delivering care and responsive to the needs of the people it is designed to support.
The initiative forms part of Whiddon’s broader commitment to Relationship-Based Care, continuous improvement and innovation in aged care, with the experiences and perspectives of residents, clients, families and employees central to how the organisation continues to evolve.
The next phase of Whiddon Spark will focus on supporting the selected initiatives through implementation, capturing learnings and identifying opportunities to expand the ideas that demonstrate the greatest impact.
Learnings from the first round will also inform the next iteration of the program, with Whiddon continuing to create opportunities for its workforce to identify and develop ideas that can improve everyday experiences across its communities.
The ambition is for Whiddon Spark to become an ongoing mechanism for workforce and community-led innovation, embedding the people closest to care in the organisation’s continued evolution.
-ENDS-
About Whiddon
Whiddon is an award-winning care provider that aims to inspire every day across its 24 residential aged care homes, community care and NDIS services throughout NSW and Southeast Queensland.
For more than 75 years, Whiddon has provided care and support to older Australians and people living with disability across regional, rural and remote communities.
Whiddon proudly partners with academics and universities to remain at the forefront of innovation, leading new thinking, programs and training around quality of life and ageing.
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