HOW MEMBERS BEAT THE AGED CARE STAFF VACCINATION RATE

When Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in June that all residential aged care workers must have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by September 17 many were sceptical. With two-thirds of residential aged care workers still unvaccinated, how could the sector meet the deadline, especially while dealing with issues such as vaccine shortages and hesitancy, and general staffing during a pandemic. But last week it was revealed that Catholic Health Australia members have cast these doubters aside, with news they had smashed the deadline and looked set to exceed it in coming weeks. Here, some of the key players tell us how they did it.

Paul Johnson, COO, Ballycara, Queensland

Paul Johnson BallycaraWe didn’t sit and wait. We began our campaign early, with posters and communications to all staff from April onwards, to encourage them to have the vaccination and let us know when they’d had it.

It was pre-mandatory, but we could see it was going to be inevitable for all staff in residential aged care. There was very little pushback from staff and they were largely accepting, as it was off the back of the flu vax requirement that’s been in place for a few years in Queensland.

We took an organisation-wide approach, using myriad channels for promotion – video messages from Ballycara Executive Chairman Marcus Riley and other key personnel, text messages, and formal letters.

We then had a targeted follow-up from late July, while actively engaging with our local primary health network, which was becoming a conduit between the Federal Government and the aged care sector.

A real game changer was the introduction of on-site clinics. We were offered two in August and a follow up last week (in mid-September). We actively promoted them, set up our own booking system, and provided a space that worked efficiently and flowed really well for Aspen, the vaccine provider.

We highlighted the clinics on social media, with Marcus Riley getting his vaccination, along with other key staff, and having them say why they got their jabs. The first clinic was also combined with Aged Care Employee Day, and we encouraged people to dress as superheroes on the day as well.

We continued to put a positive spin on the process, but as we approached the September deadline our energy and focus had to switch to those remaining staff.

We found our residential service manager – who has the best working relationship with staff – to be the one having those more detailed conversations with people who were concerned or undecided about vaccination.

So overall we succeeded through good, positive communication and engagement, having the ease of an on-site clinic with a simple booking system, and working closely in partnership with the vaccine provider.

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Helen Emmerson, CEO, Southern Cross Care NSW and ACT

Helen Emmerson

I am pleased to say most of our workforce had already had their shot before the September mandate came into effect, with some of our homes reaching 90% coverage.

For Southern Cross Care NSW & ACT our approach to staff getting vaccinated was centred around positive and consistent communication. We began work really early on in 2021, with a staff survey. From this we knew that the vast majority of our aged care workforce wanted to be vaccinated so they could continue to care for residents safely.

We provided staff with access to Department of Health resources including factsheets and videos on the vaccine and encouraged them to talk to their GP if they had any concerns. For most of our staff I think getting vaccinated provided them with reassurance. Together it does feel like we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My comms team organised some videos from me talking about the vaccination and encouraging people take it up, but I truly believe it was a team effort. We encouraged staff who had been vaccinated to update their email signature blocks to let people who perhaps may have been a bit hesitant that people they worked with had been vaccinated.

As was well covered in the media at the time there were some challenges in accessing the vaccine, particularly in our regional homes. However, we were able to work very closely with local health districts to secure on-site clinics. Once supply issues were resolved we saw a real uptick in the rate of vaccinations.

Throughout this pandemic, the vast majority of aged care residents have been kept safe from COVID-19 because of the unsung efforts of aged care workers. I believe through the collective efforts of the community and our staff we will be able to look forward to living with fewer restrictions in the near future. While aged care continues to face the ever-changing demands of this pandemic, I do believe we’re all operating with a lot more confidence knowing our workforce can and will always rise to meet the challenge.

Wayne Stoddard, Group Manager, Residential Care Services, Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC) Inc

Wayne Stoddard

Prior to the Federal Government announcing the mandatory requirements for staff, we started out with vaccinations at our in-reach residential clinics in February, so we were already promoting vaccinations to all staff well before the mandatory vaccinations were announced in June.

Knowing staff could access remaining doses from our residences, we surveyed staff to find out any barriers for vaccination. This developed a running database to identify which staff members were available at short notice for any remaining doses from the residents vaccination clinics, so we could quickly contact them to use the spare vaccinations.

The survey also helped us produce a series of FAQs, for those unsure or unaware of risks or other issues.

Our staff intranet was developed to have a specific COVID information for all staff to access the FAQs, links to government websites and information regarding Southern Cross Care’s response.

We also developed good relations with the provider, Aspen, and gave them very flexible options – we let them know we’d do anything and everything to get staff vaccinated. We’d put on clinics at short notice, weekends and long weekends to help when there were excess doses.

Aspen had the same philosophy as Southern Cross Care: vaccinate as many people as possible and don’t waste any doses.

At one clinic for 70 aged-care residents we received extra doses to vaccinate staff, but then Aspen had vaccines from other clinics, so we were able to call people on the vaccination list and not waste any doses. We delivered a total of 160 doses at the clinic.

In June, when it was announced it was becoming mandatory, we arranged a bus schedule from each site to transport staff to the vaccination clinics.

We told staff that their managers would facilitate for them, within roster constraints, to go and get vaccinated during work time – anything to make it easy. We also decided that if anyone – full-timers or casuals – had gone in their own time to be vaccinated, we would pay them.

We used social media, texts, and posters, highlighting the benefits to staff for their work, family and home. For example, one featured a staff member photographed with a resident, her daughter, and with her out shopping.

And our weekly newsletter featured an infographic showing how many staff were vaccinated, so rather than just the managers knowing the rate, all the staff were talking about it.

Part of the campaign highlighted how in NSW and Victoria last year there were bad outbreaks and the major impact on the residents, with a high mortality rate. This year with the vaccination program the mortality rate being a lot less, we have promoted the importance of vaccination to protect our residents, staff and their family members.

This included focusing on our residents with interviews and videos. One featured a 100-year-old resident saying he’d been through wars and worse, so just go and get vaccinated.

And with 90% of residents vaccinated and another 5% wanting to but not medically able to, we pushed the message: 95% of residents and their families support vaccinations, so it’s the right thing to do.

We now have 100% vaccination rates for our residential facilities and are very proud of the workforce and their commitment to the ongoing safety of our residents.

James Lye, Executive Director, Marketing, Communications and Stakeholder Relations, Mercy Health Australia

Mercy Health residential aged care team member getting vaccinated

We took a multifaceted approach to vaccinations, in an environment where we were trying to keep our residents and staff safe. We quickly saw the vaccine picking up where things such as infection control, hygiene practices and single-site work had previously been the only things holding back the tide of people getting really sick from COVID.

While encouraging residential aged care staff to be vaccinated in their community if that was more convenient, early on as an experienced public health provider we also negotiated with the Federal Government to award us a contract to administer our own vaccines, and we ended up vaccinating a significant number of our staff through that program.

In doing so we were also able to target specific homes where it had been difficult to get the government’s traveling clinic in there.

We saw very little vaccine hesitancy, with most staff, after experiencing the tragedy from 2020, seeing a benefit in protecting their own family and our residents and clients in aged care.

Peer behaviour was also a big motivator. When our people saw their colleagues getting their vaccinations and doing the right thing they tended to feel like they were part of a common cause.

Mercy Health also introduced a number of ongoing incentive campaigns, with a weekly prize draw for anyone who has their vaccination registered with our payroll people.

There has also been a great deal done at leader level, with communications going out to all managers asking them to encourage vaccination, and give direction and help staff access vaccine clinics.

And within our operational executive Felix Pintado, our Chief Executive Residential Aged Care, Home Care and Seniors Living, has been consistently providing updates to our aged care teams.

In other areas, we could put clinics on using our own nurse vaccinators, going out to our own homes, so we were able to time communications, saying to staff there was a clinic here on this day, giving them the opportunity to plan to be around the home at the time.

So, on the whole, it’s been a relatively smooth process.

As vaccines have become available our numbers have steadily climbed and our people have come on board.

We are very grateful to all of our teams for everything they have done so courageously throughout this pandemic and we are again grateful for their willingness and energy in getting vaccinated.