Health and Welfare Service Managers
Plan, organise, direct, control and coordinate the professional and administrative aspects of health and welfare programs and services.
A Wednesday at Jacaranda Gardens
You are the manager of an aged care home, and three people want your time before ten in the morning. It is 8:15am. The care team is changing shift, a family has booked an urgent meeting, and an auditor's visit is coming next month. You are also expected on the floor for part of the day.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Mum's room is on the cold side of the building, and she said nobody visited her yesterday afternoon. I know you are busy, but I do not feel she is being looked after properly. What are you going to do about it?
Reassure Joanne that her mother is very well cared for and nothing needs to change
Joanne feels dismissed and her worry grows. You did not check, and the concern may be valid. A reassuring answer without looking is not an answer.
Thank her, check the room and the care record together, fix what you can on the spot and agree when you will report back
You find the heater setting and a gap in the afternoon visits, fix both and tell her what you found. Joanne leaves feeling that her concern was taken seriously, and her mother benefits.
Promise to look into it and ask the nurse in charge to call her later in the week
It is a reasonable step, but a week is a long time for a worried family. Joanne wanted to see something done today, even if small.
I think a colleague has been rushing residents' showers to get through the list. Nothing awful, but a few residents seem uncomfortable. I do not want to get anyone in trouble. I just feel I should tell someone.
Thank her, ask for details, look at the roster and workload and talk to the whole team
The roster is stretched at that time of day, and you change it. The team talk is about the system, not a person. Tamsin learns that raising a concern leads to change, not blame.
Speak to the colleague directly and warn them that rushing residents is not acceptable here
The colleague feels singled out, and may know nothing about how the rest of the team works at that hour. You have addressed a symptom, not the cause.
Tell Tamsin that if she is not certain, it is best to leave it for now and watch for a while
Tamsin stops raising concerns, and the rushing continues. The auditor's visit later notes it. A concern from a care worker is information, even when it is uncertain.
Funding is tight again. I would like you to consider cutting the lifestyle program, the music and gardening sessions. They are not clinical, so they seem the easiest saving. I would rather hear your thinking before I take it to the board.
Agree to cut the program, since clinical care must come first and the board expects savings
Residents become quieter and lower in mood, and families notice. Activities are part of how people stay well, and a quiet loss like this can cost more in the end.
Refuse any cuts, because the residents' wellbeing is not negotiable and families would be upset
You protect the program, but Gerald is left with no options to take to the board. A refusal without alternatives does not solve his problem.
Show Gerald what each program does for residents, and propose a smaller saving elsewhere
Gerald sees the value and the trade-offs. The board chooses a modest change that keeps the music and gardening. A manager's job includes helping the people above you decide well.
How it went
By the end of the day a family has an answer, a care worker has been listened to and the board has real options. Managing a care home means guarding dignity and safety at once, with people and money both limited. Would you find this kind of work meaningful?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: Mr Bianchi and the garden path
A fictional case set in a fictional residential aged care home with about sixty residents, run by a not-for-profit.
The situation
Evelyn Doyle managed Jacaranda Gardens, an aged care home. Mr Bianchi, a resident in his late eighties, had always walked to the garden alone after breakfast. After a fall earlier in the year, his family asked that staff accompany him everywhere or keep him inside. Mr Bianchi said the garden was the best part of his day and he would rather take a small risk than lose it. Staff were caught between his wishes and the family's fear, and each side thought the home was failing them.
What they did
Evelyn arranged a meeting with Mr Bianchi, his daughter and the care team in the same room. She asked Mr Bianchi what mattered most to him, and listened to his daughter's worry without dismissing it. Together they agreed on a plan: a safer path with a handrail, a call button he would carry, a check-in at a set time and a walking aid he agreed to try. She wrote it into his care plan so that all staff followed the same approach.
How it turned out
Mr Bianchi kept his morning walks and his daughter felt reassured. He had one small stumble later in the year, handled calmly using the plan. Evelyn used the same way of working with other residents: ask what matters, share the risk honestly and write it down.
What would you do?
- Why was it important that Mr Bianchi was in the meeting and not only his family?
- How would you balance keeping someone safe with respecting what they want?
- What do you think a manager can do to help staff feel confident in a hard situation?