Early intervention generally means better health outcomes. As your dedicated home care provider, your safety and wellbeing is of paramount importance to us as we partner with you to achieve the goals you’ve set for your Home Care Package.
We also have certain provider obligations to fulfil, and as such have various safeguards in place whenever we notice something that could risk your safety or wellbeing. One of those protective measures is our clinical review process.
What is a Clinical Review?
The HomeMade team includes highly experienced Registered Nurses. They support our customers, their representatives and our Support Partners by reviewing customers’ health, safety and care needs, ensuring our customers have all the information they need to make decisions about their Home Care Package priorities.
Whenever a Support Partner, or another member of the HomeMade team, identifies a health or clinical care need, they will request a Registered Nurse to complete a clinical review.
We follow this process to ensure you receive the right level of care and support and to help us to understand any risks that might affect your health and wellbeing.
Not all customers will require a clinical review. It depends on the level of risk each individual customer presents with. Everyone’s needs are different, and our clinical review process reflects this.
A clinical review will be indicated in situations when you tell us about a recent change, or we become aware there has been a change in your circumstances or a new diagnosis. Therefore, we encourage open and transparent communication with you at all times.
Our primary focus is always on sharing useful information and options to help you meet your specific care needs.
How are Clinical Reviews Done?
All clinical reviews are conducted by our team of Registered Nurses, who are part of our Clinical Team.
Our nurses’ goal is to actively seek opportunities for you to consider that could help you improve your health and well-being.
One of our Registered Nurses will review your needs assessment and support plan, and other relevant health documents that you may have provided, such as a health summary from your GP. They will also take into account any recent notes, especially if you have experienced any changes, such as a hospital admission or new diagnosis. You generally are not asked to submit any more information than what has already been provided.
Following a clinical review, there may be a number of outcomes:
- No additional risks or concerns have been identified. In this case the outcome of the clinical review will be added to your file and no more action is required.
- We may identify a potential risk or opportunity to adjust your Support Plan or additional risk or opportunity for your consideration. In this instance, we will contact you to discuss further.
If follow up is required, we may for example, invite you to undertake a validated assessment with one of our Registered Nurse’s to explore potential areas for additional support.
Do I need to respond to a recommendation?
As a home care package recipient, active engagement in making decisions about your care and services is essential. Therefore, we kindly request that you communicate with us when we make a clinical recommendation.
It’s important to note that you have the right to decline or not proceed with a recommendation. We ask that you inform us of your decision so that we can document it.
If we don’t receive a response from you or your Representative following a clinical recommendation, for transparency and continuity of care, we may share these recommendations with your GP.
Why Clinical Reviews are done:
Continuously assessing your needs is one of the safeguards we have in place to ensure you receive adequate care and support.
At a broader level, HomeMade is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our customers. Our goal is to enable you to stay safely in your own home for as long as possible, without significant issues affecting your independence.
We also adhere to important quality and risk principles, ensuring that any customer with an identified clinical risk is informed of that risk and provided with the opportunity to mitigate it.
Our Team is here to help you get the most out of your Home Care Package
Is there a cost associated?
There is no cost to this service. Our team are here to support you to achieve your goals and part of that includes identifying and discussing any recommendations to help improve your health and wellbeing.
As your home care provider, your care management fee covers the identification and addressing of risks to your safety, health, and well-being. Any follow-up appointments or assessments with our registered nurses also do not incur any additional costs.
Your Mutual Obligations:
If a member of the HomeMade team contacts you to discuss a clinical recommendation, whether by phone or email, we encourage you to take the time to consider and respond to these suggestions.
As a part of your on-going mutual obligations when self-managing your home care, you need to:
Provide us with all the information we require to ensure you get the support you need.
This includes:
- Disclosing all relevant information about your health and circumstances.
- Providing HomeMade with additional information when required. For example, we may ask you for a GP health summary or hospital discharge summary.
- Tell us when there has been a major change in your health or circumstances. This includes hospital visits.
Actively engage HomeMade in making decisions about your care and services.
You know what is best for you; we want to make sure you have all the information you need to make informed choices.
Our clinical recommendations are not isolated suggestions but are an integral part of our mutual obligations to ensure you receive appropriate care and services for your needs.
For More Information please visit: Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
