BEAT
SEPT2014
CONNECTING OUR PEOPLE ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
READY FOR BUSINESS Bupa Medical Visa Services opens its doors
BUPA BABIES
A helping hand with a handful of twins
MOMENTS OF CLARITY A woman’s brief escape from living with dementia
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WELCOME
Wherever you work within Bupa, this new quarterly magazine is for you. Welcome to the new voice of Bupa people across Australia and New Zealand. When the internal communications team commissioned research at the end of last year, you told us you wanted to build a broader connection across Australia and New Zealand and a deeper understanding of who we are and what we do. Bupa Beat is part of building this connection, and it is designed to tell our people’s stories. It highlights the many great actions that are undertaken every day that drive us closer to Bupa 2020. So four times a year we’ll be gathering articles from every corner of Bupa in Australia and New Zealand (with a few snippets from other parts of the Bupa world). We hope you’ll find all of them informative and many of them inspiring and entertaining. And if you also feel inspired to suggest other Bupa people or stories you think deserve to make an appearance in future issues, please email your ideas to:
beat@bupa.com.au
IN THIS ISSUE
BEAT
SEPT2014
4 6 15
CONNECTING OUR PEOPLE ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
READY FOR BUSINESS Bupa Medical Visa Services has delivered a very high level of service to some 20,000 people a month from day one.
READY FOR BUSINESS
BUPA BABIES
Bupa Medical Visa Services opens its doors
BUPA BABIES
How the Bunbury Bupa Centre became a home away from home for two very special little twins the team call their ‘Bupa babies’.
A helping hand with a handful of twins
MOMENTS OF CLARITY
MOMENTS OF CLARITY
A woman’s brief escape from living with dementia
The powerful story of a much loved resident who ‘awoke’ from her dementia for one day of very moving revelations.
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CONTENTS
Our cover: Gracing the cover of the very first edition of BEAT is the welcoming face of Alex Fildes, receptionist for Bupa Medical Visa Services.
9
27 TEAM MEMBER PROFILE
A DAY IN THE LIFE
19
BUPA DOCTOR
10 HEALTH & WELLBEING
19 SUSTAINABILITY
27 BUPA BLOOPER
12
BUPA OPTICAL SUCCESS
20 ONE BUPA
28 BUPA BITES
14
EVERYDAY HERO
22 RHYTHMS
30 FORTY YEARS ON
16
SHARING THE LOVE
24 NO PLACE LIKE HOME
31 YEARS OF SERVICE
18
CUSTOMER PROFILE
26 BUPA BRAIN TRAINER
BEAT | 3
(Far left) Bupa Medical Visa Services Receptionist Alex Fildes greeting one of our first customers through the door (Left & main) Bupa Medical Visa Services Dr Julie Shelton taking a customer through their medical assessment
FROM 0 TO 100% IN SIX MONTHS Most start-up businesses have the luxury of starting small and taking a little time to find their feet. Not Bupa Medical Visa Services in Australia. From the day this Bupa business opened its doors on July 28 this year, it had to start delivering a very high level of service for some 20,000 people a month. 4 | BEAT
Building a national business from scratch in just six months would be a daunting proposition for any organisation, but Bupa set the bar even higher by aiming to make the new service a big improvement on what had gone before. It all started when the Department of Immigration called for tenders to provide it with health assessments, checking that people applying for visas to migrate permanently or stay temporarily in Australia meet the necessary health requirements. About a quarter of a million of these health checks are done each year. Hisham El-Ansary, the Managing Director of Bupa Health Services and the project’s executive sponsor, explains that the management team didn’t automatically think they should even submit a tender. “Despite all our healthcare expertise, we didn’t have anything locally to help us provide this service. It only seemed possible when we looked at it from a global perspective.” Hisham was able to consult others in Bupa and leverage the clinics expertise that Bupa had
in other locations such as Poland, Spain, the UK and Hong Kong. With that global credibility, as well as their support and encouragement, he and the rest of the management team, particularly his business development head, Stephen Smith, became more confident – and ambitious. “We thought ‘Sure, we’re the dark horse in this race.’ We knew we had to make a powerful case for change to win the contract. But the more we looked at it, the more we convinced ourselves we could provide a better service at a more competitive price.” For Hisham, the whole exercise has been a powerful expression of Bupa values. “We built up a picture of the existing service model and designed a better one.” The way in which people from all over Bupa – around the country and around the world – worked together really put the principle of One Bupa into practice. “The ability to look at challenges like this as one company and help each other where we can is what sets us apart from our competitors.” If winning the contract was a major achievement against the odds, turning the new
“ The ability to look at challenges like this as one company and help each other where we can is what sets us apart from our competitors.” customer-focused service model into a reality between February – when the contract was signed – and July was an even greater one. Over 200 new people have been hired to work in six purpose-built Medical Assessment Centres, designed to create a more welcoming ambience as well as a more responsive level of service. “There was no gradual build-up,” says Hisham. “We’ve gone straight from zero to a hundred. That’s what makes this project unique and such a significant achievement by so many of our people – ably guided by Mark Hughes, the Program Director, and Brett Comer, the General Manager of the business and its first employee.” One essential ingredient of the success was ‘Buparising’ the new recruits, as Josephine Gusman puts it. “It’s all about caring for the customers,” says Josephine, who designed and led a lot of the training. “That’s who Bupa is.” Josephine says the ‘newbies’ were given ownership of the program and have really embraced it. “The training was all built
around ‘My Bupa. My customers. My role. My team.’ So the new people immediately felt part of the organisation and took on board our commitment to our customers.” While many people across all functional streams worked tirelessly on this program, Josephine particularly admired the way Vicki Garniss, the project’s ‘people lead’, and Technical Project Manager Joanne Mills coordinated the complex training. “It had to be fast. We didn’t have that much time. And for each audience, we needed to design a different program. The logistics were a nightmare.” Most of the newbies went through a 5-day induction program, and Saturday training was arranged for people who were still working fulltime for other employers. A few days before the official opening, the training moved into the new centres themselves. One of the new recruits, Daisy Wong, gives a lot of credit to the ‘dry runs’ in which the new team members booked in phantom customers and processed their checks on
the custom-built IT system. They also took it in turns to play the role of customers turning up for appointments. She was impressed by the thoroughness of the training and the support she received from all levels of such a large company. Josephine says the shared experience of knowing everyone would be starting from scratch on the same day built enormous team spirit. “The emotions were running high. It was exciting to be part of.” And Daisy says the intensive training paid off right from the start. “We had some customers come in on our opening day who’d had medical assessments for visas done before. They said the service was fantastic, even on the first day, and they loved the fact that people kept checking that they were OK.” No one is more impressed than Hisham himself. “From my point of view, having been there all through the journey, this whole project has been a wonderful example of what people across Bupa working together are able to achieve.”
BEAT | 5
A HELPING HAND WITH A HANDFUL OF TWINS How the Bunbury Bupa Centre became a home away from home for two very special little twins the team call their ‘Bupa babies’.
6 | BEAT
The two youngest – and most popular – regular visitors to the Bunbury Bupa Centre had a very difficult start in life. Born 16 weeks premature, little Isla and Emelie spent all of those 16 weeks in hospital. In Perth, almost 200 kilometres from home. At first the twins’ survival hung in the balance, but eventually it was just a matter of time until they were strong enough to go back home to Bunbury. Once they got there, amazingly, their very first outing was to the Bupa Centre to say hello to the team and thank them for their support. The story all started a few months earlier, when the twins’ parents, Tracey and Ryan, came in looking for reassurance. Tracey’s previous pregnancy had been ectopic and the couple were shocked when their old health fund refused to pay for some of the care Tracey required.
Ryan was a bit sceptical about the need for private health cover at all, especially after that one bad experience. But Natalie Lovett and the rest of her Bunbury team quickly showed its value. Not just by arranging financial protection, but also by providing much appreciated emotional and practical support. “This story would be unusual for the average health fund,” says Natalie, “but it’s not for this team. We all really like to get ‘embedded’ with our customers, learn everything about their situation and work to help them. It’s just something that’s developed in this group.” They all make a point of adding extra notes into the system so everyone is kept up to speed with challenging or sensitive cases and is able to help find solutions. Continued on page 8
BEAT | 7
“ ...and in walked Tracey and Ryan with the babies. These tiny little girls. Our office was the first place they visited once they had the all-clear to go out. For us, that was a real privilege.”
Soon after joining Bupa, Tracey came back into the office to announce that she was pregnant with twins. Even as they congratulated her, Natalie and the team knew that the pregnancy was likely to be challenging. “Only a few weeks later, Ryan called from the hospital to tell us Tracey had gone into
The birth of the tiny twins was great news, but their long stay in hospital so far from home was especially difficult. labour and been flown to Perth.” The birth of the tiny twins was great news, but their long stay in hospital so far from home was especially difficult. “First Ryan asked if we could book the babies in as private patients, so we checked that out and found that if they were, they could be in the same room. So that was a great help and meant Ryan and Tracey could sleep in that one room with them instead of being split up.” “Then Ryan called in to see us one day a few weeks later, and we all said ‘What are you doing here?’ It turned out he’d had to come
8 | BEAT
back to work and was struggling with the cost of the constant travelling.” The team talked about what else they could do to help. After investigating extra support for regional couples, they were able to arrange a Visa debit card and ‘Helping Hand’ travel vouchers for Ryan to take the financial pressure off. Right through the months that the twins spent in hospital, Natalie kept in regular contact with Tracey and Ryan to make sure they had all the help they needed and to do everything possible to smooth the process of reimbursement. And the whole Bunbury team has been rewarded ever since. “We were sitting at the counter one day and in walked Tracey and Ryan with the babies. These tiny little girls. Our office was the first place they visited once they had the all-clear to go out. For us, that was a real privilege.” The twins have been readmitted to hospital with a dangerous infection since that memorable day, but are happily now fully recovered. Which leaves them free to make special guest appearances that are always a highlight for both team and visitors at Bupa Bunbury.
AT A GLANCE • 16 weeks premature, twins Isla and Emelie spent four months in hospital in Perth, over 200km from home in Bunbury. • Bunbury’s Bupa team went above and beyond with financial, emotional and practical support. • Once home, the twins’ first outing was to the Bupa Centre to thank the team.
Jean Colbeck finds that the best way to foster a culture of friendship and mutual support is to inject just a little bit of silliness into your daily job routine. Jean Colbeck has been the Care Home Manager at Auckland’s Beachhaven Hospital for 14 years. In November 2013, Beachhaven won the prestigious Care Home of the Year award. Jean is proud of her hospital’s well-known professional achievements. But she is also proud of her hospital’s less well-known successes. Jean is famous around Beachhaven for hosting fun events at which she hands out mock awards for categories like ‘Wally of the Week’, ‘Best Dancer’, and ‘Best Bum Wiggler’. Recently, Jean’s Health & Safety Officer, Marie Hume, dressed up in a sparkly gown, long gloves, a wig and fluffy slippers and entertained those at Beachhaven with her impersonation of the Queen. Jean dressed up as a “sexy Kate Middleton”, much to the delight of staff, patients and their relatives. Now you may think that events like these would be all too rare. Providing expert care to dementia patients is a serious, time-consuming job. And it’s true that Jean heads a very dedicated team who often work 10 to 12-hour days. Jean herself spends a lot of time seeing to the hospital’s important administrative tasks: responding to emails; interviewing staff; and organising and attending meetings. But Jean says “there’s always some silliness at some part of the day!” Often it takes the form of hijacking meetings with irreverent stories. A lot of managers frown upon meetings getting derailed. Not Jean Colbeck. Jean is a big believer in the power of
A DAY IN THE LIFE Jean Colbeck
humorous anecdotes to fill an otherwise humdrum day with laughter. As Jean says, “Meetings might take a little bit longer, but they engender a lot of laughter and friendship. It keeps the team together.” Jean warns against “too much professionalism”. She says, “I could not do the job if I didn’t have a good laugh every so often. Of course the work is serious, but if it got too dour and too serious, it would drag you down.” “And don’t be afraid to ask for help, because Bupa is very good at giving advice and helping you out if you’re floundering,” Jean adds. For those working as managers, Jean recommends being open and democratic when making decisions. Jean often seeks the advice of her staff by hosting small round-tables. “It could be a lonely position being the manager of a care home, but I’ve never regarded it like that. Because I actually don’t even think of myself as a manager, I think of myself as part of the team.” Above all else, Jean says the best way to approach your daily routine is to “have a life and have a laugh.”
BEAT | 9
Health & Wellbeing content provided by Bupa’s Health Content Team
HEALTH& WELLBEING Every step you take counts
A pedometer can show you how active you are by measuring the number of steps you take each day. Simply clip it to your waistband or pop it on your wrist as soon as you get up and take it off just before bedtime. Bupa’s purpose to live longer, healthier, happier lives extends to our people too. Our aim is for you to be healthier because you work at Bupa. Many of us have desk based roles where we are sedentary for large parts of the day, and one way to help motivate us to move more is by using a pedometer. The 10,000 Steps health promotion program recommends increasing your step count slowly — by no more than 1,000 to 2,000 steps each week. Wear your pedometer daily while sticking to your normal routine to give you an idea of your daily steps. You can then compare your daily average to the guide on this page and, if you’re keen to improve, slowly increase your daily steps to achieve greater physical activity. Experts recommend a target of at least 10,000 steps a day for most healthy adults. This
10 | BEAT
number is linked to lower blood pressure and a leaner waistline. Remember that a typical pedometer only measures the steps you take. Other activities like cycling, swimming or strength training, for instance, won’t be measured by a pedometer. So it’s possible to be very active and still do fewer than 10,000 steps a day.
Steps (per day)
Activity level
< 5,000
Sedentary
5,000 — 7,499
Low active
7,500 — 9,999
Somewhat active
10,000 — 12,500
Active
> 12,500
Highly active
Developed by C Tudor-Locke and Dr Bassett Jr (2004)
Kick start your family’s health Bring your family together and start new healthy habits by taking part in the Bupa Family Challenge, brought to you by Bupa and Life Education. Simply take on a challenge that involves your family making healthy changes to your everyday life – whether it’s eating well, moving more or creating new healthier habits. Find out more at www.bupafamilychallenge.com.au
Start the day with a healthy splash of colour Rainbow Smoothie An easy way to kick start a spring time morning with a fruity taste sensation! If you have a selection of fruit (strawberries perhaps in spring, blueberries early summer... whatever else is in season), you can also create your own combos. Budget tip: Use frozen berries. They are still packed with goodness. This recipe is also great for using up your over-ripe bananas. Ingredients (makes 2 smoothies) • 400g frozen berries or other small pieces of fruit • 1 banana • 120ml water • 125g plain/no-fat yoghurt • 1 tsp honey Method Add all ingredients to a bowl and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass. Enjoy!
BEAT | 11
BUPA OPTICAL IS TURNING HEADS Rebecca Truman from Bupa Optical, Chadstone, providing the kind of service that has led to an incredible success story
AT A GLANCE • The rebranding from Blink to Bupa Optical has had immediate benefits. • After 12 months, Bupa Optical has had year-on-year growth of 22%. • Has grown to 27 stores with more to open in coming months. • 30% of customers rated their in-store customer experience as 10 out of 10.
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What’s in a name? That all depends on what the name stands for. Only a little over twelve months after the first signs bearing its new business name were put up on shop fronts around the country, ‘Bupa Optical’ already stands for extraordinary success. Few businesses rely so heavily on the glamour of big brand names as opticians. Many of the spectacles they sell are marketed under the umbrella of top fashion labels. And every pair of Ray-Bans seems just a little cooler than the competition because their classic styles have been worn by so many celebrities. But eyecare is first and foremost about good optical health, so in this market the Bupa brand name is proving to be even more of an attraction than the famous frames they sell. The benefits of changing the store names from Blink to Bupa Optical have very quickly become obvious. “Before the re-branding, about 20% of our store customers were Bupa Health Insurance members,” says recently appointed Bupa
Optical General Manager Greg McPherson. “Now this figure has grown to 80%, demonstrating the impact of the re-branding and showing how our members trust and value the Bupa brand and its product and service offering.” Of course there’s more to good optical services than people admiring their new specs in the mirror and – sometimes – feeling a little closer to stardom. And a lot of the other things fit neatly under the Bupa banner. Like excellent service, meticulous clinical care, good value and a genuine concern for the customers’ health and quality of life. But Bupa Optical is ticking other boxes too. The rebranding of Bupa Optical included a focus on creating and refurbishing stores in high-traffic shopping centres, taking Bupa to the people and giving them a better in-store experience. Alan Ng, the Bupa Optical Store Manager at the George Street outlet in Sydney, has been in the front line and witnessed the benefits of the re-branding to Bupa Optical first-hand. “Optical is a very special industry,” he says. “We look after people both clinically and cosmetically. We have to concentrate on details. “Our industry is highly competitive, so if you don’t provide quality service, you’ll definitely lose business.” Thanks to the great work of his team, and all the other Bupa Optical teams around the country, Alan is very confident the new chain won’t have that problem. “I can definitely see us expanding. And this growth can be attributed to Bupa’s strong brand. Customers are coming to us because of our extensive range and, compared to the competitors, we have a better product too.” Alan’s experience at his store is backed up by the nation-wide business results. “We relaunched the chain as Bupa Optical about 12 months ago and since then we’ve had year-on-year growth of 22%”, says Greg. “That’s an outstanding result considering that we’re operating in a highly competitive marketplace with industry growth at about 2%.” The number of stores has already grown to
A successful rebrand: our Bupa Optical store in Chadstone
27 and more will open in the next few months. Overall, customer numbers are set to rise from 35,000 in 2013 to 50,000 this year. And the people are voting with their hands as well as their feet. Positive feedback from post-sale customer surveys has been exceptional. “30% of the customers we surveyed rated their in-store customer experience as a perfect 10 out of 10. That’s a stunning result and a great reflection on our people and product,” says Greg. He even has a cunning plan to leverage the growing reputation of Bupa Optical and send new business in the opposite direction as well. “Looking to the future, A HEALTHCARE PARTNER TO my focus is to continue this MILLIONS MORE good work and see the 20% PEOPLE of non-Bupa Health Insurance AROUND THE members who currently WORLD only use our optical services choose us as their health service partner too.”
“ We look after people both clinically and cosmetically. We have to concentrate on details.”
PEOPLE LOVE WORKING AT BUPA
EXTRAORDINARY BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
BEAT | 13
EVERYDAY HERO Glenys Brown
Glenys Brown from Parkhaven Rest Home in Auckland is one of the many people at Bupa whose generosity of spirit is a great source of inspiration every day. Parkhaven Rest Home is far from an ordinary workplace. As a Clinical Assistant, Glenys Brown spends her working life caring for patients whose descent into dementia and other mental health issues is heartbreaking for their families. Many people would find the whole situation dispiriting, but Glenys has an inspirationally positive attitude. “Every day there’s a challenge,” she says, “but every day there’s a reward as well. You just have to be patient. When things get difficult, all you need is one person to smile or say ‘thank you’ and all the bad stuff is forgotten.” If anyone deserves some thanks and a grateful smile, Glenys surely does. She constantly goes above and beyond the call of duty to make incredibly difficult situations a little easier for patients and their families alike. Recently Glenys looked after a “lovely, grumpy man with a heart of gold”. “Sometimes he’d tell me to get the heck out of his room,” says Glenys, laughing at the memory. “Then when I walked out the door, he’d yell out ‘Sorry!’ I’d go back in and say ‘I heard that!’ and he’d say: ‘I didn’t mean it. Get out!’” Finally, the man became very ill. On one of her days off, Glenys came in and sat with him for three and a half hours before he passed away. “I had the biggest, warmest, neatest feeling that I
14 | BEAT
was there for him in his last moments,” she says. The man had no family and had asked that no funeral be held for him. “When I remembered he said he didn’t want a funeral, I felt a bit empty again,” Glenys says. Then she remembered that the man had often spoken fondly about a place from his childhood – Lyall Bay in Wellington. “I thought ‘I know what! I can take his ashes back to Lyall Bay!’”
She constantly goes above and beyond the call of duty to make incredibly difficult situations a little easier... So that’s exactly what she did. In her own time, Glenys travelled to Lyall Bay, buried half the man’s ashes in the beach and scattered the rest across the ocean. “I can’t explain how neat I felt!” says a beaming Glenys. “I probably had a smile on my face for a week.” Whether she’s sending residents postcards on her holidays or visiting ex-residents in hospital in her own time, Glenys never goes ‘off duty’ but remains committed to treating everyone at Parkhaven with the kindness and respect we all deserve.
n DEMENTIA
Kate Burnett, the Activity Officer at Cornwall Park Hospital in Auckland, tells the powerful story of a much loved resident who ‘awoke’ from her dementia for one day of very moving revelations.
MOMENTS OF CLARITY Wednesday, 15th January is a day Kate Burnett will always remember. For the first time in years, one of the residents woke up with her mind unclouded by dementia. “The team were aware of the change from the very first moment they entered the room,” Kate writes. “Her features were very different; soft and loving. Her usual colourful language was replaced with words of kindness and joy. The staff bought her out into the dining room and for the first time in over a year she sat at the table to enjoy her breakfast. “This lady and I have an incredibly deep bond. I’d been working here just a few days when she learnt that if she shouted my name, I’d be straight there to give her anything she wanted. As time went on I’d spend my days with Mary right by my side. “When I arrived at work that morning there sat my companion with the sunniest of dispositions. As she looked over at me we both started to cry. She looked just like the lady in the pictures I’d seen of her before she entered the hospital; she looked 10 years younger. She threw her arms out to me and we embraced like old friends who’d been apart for too long. “I took her out into the sunshine and we sat by the rabbit cage as we so often did. She could remember things I’d told her in detail such as my boyfriend’s name and his profession. I was so overwhelmed at her memory and
conversational skills; sometimes you wonder if the person inside the person with dementia is taking in what you are saying. It appears from Mary’s awakening that they absolutely are. She took my hand and said to me: “I have a lot of love for you Kate, I want you to always remember that’. Then she lowered her voice and said: “Please answer this honestly, Kate.” I nodded. “Will the dementia return?” Sadly I nodded my head again. “Then how long do we have together?” I told her that I didn’t know. It could be a few minutes, maybe a few hours but we would cherish every second we had together. “That afternoon Mary’s son and I took her out of the hospital. We drove her to the beach and she told me stories of when she lived there. We took her to church and had afternoon tea. Some of her family and friends came to visit with their children, which Mary was so pleased about. However, we could see she was getting tired and were aware that we could lose her any moment. “We got back in the car and I sat in the middle with my arm around her and she lay back against me. She kissed my hand and held it tight as we passed the beach where she had grown up. She said she’d never seen anything so beautiful and softly fell asleep. I held her tight to make sure she felt loved and safe. “She woke around 15 minutes later and bit into my arm with ferocious anger. We were all
too aware that the dementia had returned. Her screams were louder than ever as we took her back into the hospital. “To this day, she has never resurfaced. But no matter what happens, I’ll always remember that a miracle happened at Cornwall Park Hospital that day and I know that deep down in that person with dementia is a vibrant, intelligent and loving woman trying her best to tell me that I’m appreciated.”
Kate Burnett
BEAT | 15
Being a healthcare partner to millions more often starts at a local community level.
SHARING THE LOVE 16 | BEAT
Through the people we help and the people who work here, Bupa is a big part of all our local communities. And one of our aims is to constantly strengthen that link in two ways: by reaching out to help more people, and by inviting more people into our networks. Tamara Forbes, the Bupa Community Liaison Officer in Christchurch, has developed a perfect example of the first approach. On the first Tuesday of the month, Tamara and her team run a stall at the Bush Inn Centre Christchurch, giving customers glucose and blood tests as well as valuable information on medical alarms, village living opportunities and respite care. Typically, 50 to 70 people visit the stall each day, with 40 or more receiving healthcare checks. On the first day the stall opened, 28 medical alarms were sold and a number of people signed up for tours of Bupa Care Village sites. And the message of their good work and healthcare service soon spread throughout the community. “It’s got really quite popular. It’s got to the point now where I get approached in the community and asked when we are going to next have our stand,” says Tamara. “Not only do we do blood and glucose testing, but we have a good old chat with the customers and they’ve become our friends really.” Tamara’s good work often extends beyond the customer. Family and friends of people who need care and assistance benefit too. “A lady who approached us was having huge difficulty finding a nice place for her
“ By throwing open our doors and being transparent, we show the public and volunteers that there’s life and fun in our homes...”
Gilly Podd (left) with Marie who has volunteered at Bupa Croydon every week for the last nine years
Bupa’s stall in the Bush Inn Centre Christchurch attracts up to 70 visitors every day
husband who was assessed by a health warden as needing a rest-home respite bed.” “I was quite aware that he had significantly progressed Alzheimer’s disease.” “The two of them came to look at one of the village sites and, although he was only assessed as ‘rest home’, I could see that he was going to need hospital care in the near future. So we arranged with the local needs assessment team to get him in to our hospital and it’s worked really well. He’s become a permanent resident and his wife has a home nearby. He also has four or five sons that visit frequently. It’s worked out perfectly for everyone.” As the Head of Volunteering at Bupa Care Homes in Sydney, Gilly Podd taps into the community’s spirit of generosity from the opposite direction.
In 2013, Gilly launched a Volunteer Program that has since welcomed over 8,000 volunteers into Bupa Care Homes and encourages them to share their passions, interests and skills with residents. “A lot of the volunteers are from schools, community clubs and kindergartens – all sorts of people have come through,” says Gilly. “It’s been wonderful, but we have to be careful that they’re a suitable person. So, we give them a police check and induction before they go on into the Bupa Care Homes. Our residents have to be safe-guarded.” “Individual volunteers are looked after by a Lifestyle Officer who creates a ‘map of life’ that tells them what the volunteer likes, doesn’t like and what they’re good at.” “They then match that person with
appropriate activities like ball games, painting, sculpting, gardening and even outings to the cinema or shops.” “The residents love to see different faces and have a break from routine.” The great work by Gilly and the volunteers is also challenging some existing negative community perceptions surrounding aged care. “By throwing open our doors and being transparent, we show the public and volunteers that there’s life and fun in our homes and that the residents do lots of things. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for people to see and understand what goes on and that can only be positive.” While Tamara and her team are taking Bupa care to the streets, Gilly’s program is introducing more people into the Bupa family. In those two different ways, their engagement with the whole community is making a significant difference to many lives.
A HEALTHCARE PARTNER TO MILLIONS MORE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD
PEOPLE LOVE WORKING AT BUPA
EXTRAORDINARY BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
BEAT | 17
CUSTOMER PROFILE
‘ I THINK I WENT A BIT OVERBOARD.’ Joanne Ashe
The Bupa Integrated Osteoarthritis Management Program has been such a success that some customers can be tempted to overdo it – in a good way. In the 2012/13 financial year, Bupa Health Insurance paid $346 million in benefits to provide knee and hip replacements for 13,000 members. That’s a lot of money, a lot of members with worn-out knees and hips, and plenty of reasons to try a new approach that might ease the pain all round. The new approach the Bupa development team came up with is the Integrated Osteoarthritis Management Program (IOMP), a great example of a ‘secondary prevention’ program – one aimed at preventing an existing condition from progressing to the next, more severe stage.
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Joanne Ashe of Knoxfield in Victoria was a typical candidate for the program. Years of chronic knee pain meant she was less physically active, which made it all too easy for her to put on extra weight – and that, of course, increased the pressure on her knee. “I would do anything to avoid walking,” Joanne says. “I would never have thought of walking to the local shop to get some milk. Not for a second.” The IOMP is an 18-week program tailor-made to help people like Joanne simultaneously lose weight, build muscle strength and manage their chronic pain. Through a combination of education, exercise and a portion-controlled diet, the aim is to prevent the osteoarthritis getting so bad that joint replacement surgery is required. About 2,000 Bupa members have completed the program so far. They were all regarded as very likely to need replacement surgery when they started, but so far only 9% of them have gone on to have it. Even when surgery is still required, the program makes it more likely to succeed. Joanne had an arthroscopy on her bad
knee before beginning the program, which then enabled her to take full advantage of that ‘clean-out’. She says being enrolled in a relatively intense program for a fixed period helped her really focus. “It was hard, but I thought ‘it’s not going to be forever’ and I promised myself I wouldn’t cheat.” Once she got on a roll, there was no stopping her. “I think I went a bit overboard at the end. I was still keeping to the strict diet when the ladies told me I was supposed to be winding down.” Not that the ‘very helpful’ ladies who supported Joanne through the program weren’t impressed by her enthusiasm. “Every single one was lovely and they even said I could go on ringing them for advice when the program was over.” And the result? “My knee is a thousand per cent better, really good. I can walk anywhere and I’m not afraid of exercise anymore.” After years of chronic pain, Joanne has a new lease on life, is happily down to a size 12 and has continued to eat healthily and stay active. Those are sort of benefits the program development team is proud to provide.
SPRING FEVER
SUSTAINABILITY
Q. W hat’s the best way to control my hay fever through spring?
BUPA DR Dr Tim Ross
Dr Tim Ross is our resident doctor, who works four days a week at Bupa, and on Fridays as a practising GP. Dr Tim will regularly answer your questions about looking after yourself and others.
A. S pringtime brings the hope of warmer weather and increased social activities. Unfortunately, much of nature feels the same way and there is an outpouring of pollens and fresh grasses. If you get hay fever, be sure to travel with antihistamines of the non-sedating kind and ask for chocolates rather than flowers. Different antihistamines work for different people, so if you have used one type a few times and don’t feel any better, try another. If your hay fever is not in control with antihistamines, cortisone nasal sprays are much more effective, and very safe to use for short periods (1–2 months). The best sprays are via a script from your GP.
DON’T PASS IT ON Q. I don’t like taking time off work, but the thought of passing on my latest lurgy is even worse. Should I just stay home? A. M ost of us have a good work ethic. Unfortunately this sometimes means that we work when we shouldn’t, which is a big reason why so many people catch colds each year. They can be passed on in the office, in the street and, commonly, on public transport. If you do come to work, keep one metre away from everyone, have a tissue or handkerchief handy for any snot or coughing, and avoid meetings in confined rooms. You are most infectious when you have a fever, feel hot and cold, feel tired and heavy, and/ or your head feels like it’s going to explode. If you have gastro, don’t even think about coming in.
Got your own question for Dr Tim? Just email it to askthedoc@bupa.com.au
One Health Insurance Retail Store in Adelaide shows that with some simple planning, and a little nagging, small actions really can lead to big outcomes. When Brigetta Palmer heard of the Spark program, she knew it was something her retail team at the Bupa store in Modbury, Adelaide could jump all over. “We think of ourselves as leaders, not followers, and getting involved in the Spark program gave us a chance to see what we could achieve with a just little extra effort,” Brigetta explains. First action for Brigetta and the team was to consider what they could, and couldn’t, control. “We’re in Westfield shopping centre, so certain things like the air conditioning systems are outside our control. Also, we didn’t want the team crawling under desks each night to turn off switches because of safety issues,” Brigetta explains. So the team made a simple list, such as turning off the store’s seven plasma screens each night, printing double sided and turning computers off at the desktop when not in use. “To start with, I nagged a little to remind everyone to switch things off, but by the end of the month, it’s now become habit and something our new staff are thinking is just how things are done around here.” In one month, the Modbury retail team managed to reduce their carbon emissions by 35% and they received a $250 donation to a charity of their choice – the Animal Welfare League.
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ONE BUPA Whether they come to us or we travel overseas, international Bupa teams are sharing how to achieve outstanding results by an acknowledged pacesetter from our part of the world.
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Adam Longshaw takes a break from briefing a Bupa team from India who visited Australia in July
Local Bupa team showing the world Sports fans from both Australia and New Zealand are used to seeing some of our teams show other countries what we can do. When we work together with the right balance of skills and a winning attitude, we can be world-beaters. Now all supporters of great healthcare can celebrate the international success of a local Bupa team. Gus Norris kicked off this international involvement and over the last three years other key members of the Australian Health & Benefits Management team have been sharing insights with their counterparts in the UK, India, Singapore and even Saudi Arabia. This sharing of knowledge ticks a number of boxes in helping achieve our vision for the future of Bupa. Naturally it fits within the One Bupa commitment for all of us from different parts of the organisation to help each other achieve our full potential. It also supports our ambition to be famous for making healthcare affordable and accessible whilst not being afraid to tackle the toughest challenges. Each Health & Benefits Management division is responsible for making sure Bupa members get access to the best possible care at the most appropriate time. That’s partly about putting in place sound commercial arrangements with appropriate healthcare providers, but the Aussie team regularly achieve much more than that. Like all great teams, they choose a mix of people who bring specialist skills to their respective positions. “You can’t just enrol in a course at university to learn about managing healthcare,” says their Director, Adam Longshaw. “You have to be able to understand the clinical, economic and political implications of every decision in a rapidly changing health system. So we recruit a very diverse mix of people, including pharmacists, nurses, social workers, accountants, economists and former political advisers. We need all those different perspectives to achieve the best results.”
The new Pay for Quality initiative is a great example of how the team works to shift the emphasis from cost to value for money and experience. 150,000 Bupa members are treated at a hospital in the Healthscope group each year. Pay for Quality is an innovative funding platform under which Bupa will reward Healthscope for providing better patient outcomes and care. Over the next few years, the two organisations will develop special projects that will improve the hospital experience for Bupa customers. This new partnership initiative is the latest in a series that includes the industry-leading Never Event program, launched in 2013.
The patients’ quality of life is better and so is the bottom line – for the member, for Bupa and for taxpayers. Working in partnership with a major healthcare provider is all about teamwork too. And the local unit have done it so well that they have helped reshape the Australian healthcare system to work better for everyone. As Adam says, “We’ve been very good at creating an environment that suits Bupa and, most importantly, delivers outstanding care for our customers.” Now they are working with the teams in other countries to aim equally high. “Every system is different,” says Adam. “Just thinking we can pick up what we do in Australia and drop it into other countries is never going to work. But we can help all our teams become less passive in accepting existing arrangements or experiences. We are looking to introduce minimum requirements to be a supplier of services to our customers, setting standards across both the care and data they supply that will enable us to spend money in a more effective and productive way.”
The team’s ‘game plan’ is based on three simple principles that work in every system. The first is looking for ways to improve sustainability in the entire system by ensuring Bupa pays the right price for the right service at the right time. In other words, not just handing over the money to institutions without making sure it’s being used efficiently. That process overlaps a bit with the second one: cutting out wastage and duplication. Finally, it’s crucial to recognise the great value of small improvements in such large systems, which makes the first two processes feel more rewarding. Even the smallest saving can be multiplied thousands of times a day as a routine procedure is performed over and over again right around the country. And if that’s the case in Australia, imagine the impact on cost savings and improvements Bupa can have right around the globe – where £5.16 billion is paid out on behalf of Bupa members every year. Of course the process works both ways. The Australian team is learning a lot from the overseas Bupa teams as well, especially in areas that are not traditionally part of our core operations like primary care. With such a great track record already, stand by to see how the local team can translate the insights of people working in very different systems around the world into fresh ideas that will ultimately see Bupa 2020 ambitions realised.
3 STEPS TO A BETTER DEAL 1. Look for ways to improve the sustainability of the entire health system (don’t just hand over the cash) 2. Identify and eradicate waste and duplication 3. Appreciate the value of small improvements (which can make a big difference in a large health system)
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RHYTHMS 22 | BEAT
Dean Holden, Managing Director of Bupa ANZ, likes nothing more than a good curry – or burning off the carbs on a long bike ride.
Dean with the Bupa team from the 2014 Tour Down Under
WHAT MAKES ME LAUGH Among the golden oldies, Monty Python and Yes Minister are still very funny after all these years. Big Bang Theory is a more recent favourite. I also get plenty of laughs from unscripted comedy: the various spontaneous one-liners that pop up in the office and at home.
WHAT I’D RATHER BE DOING There’s nothing I’d rather be doing! I’m constantly excited by our people’s enthusiasm, energy and care for our customers. As a boy, I did plan on becoming a helicopter pilot or professional footballer with ‘the mighty Blues’ (Chelsea FC). I’d never turn down the chance to spend time relaxing with my wife of thirty-two years, Christine, on a remote and sunny island.
MY PROUDEST MOMENT It’s a toss-up between winning first prize in a Butlins Holiday Camp Beautiful Baby Contest and – a bit more recently – going to Buckingham Palace to accept the Queen’s Award for Export & Enterprise on behalf of Bupa International.
ALL I’M LACKING …is a McLaren MP4-12C! That’s the sports car McLaren built using all their Grand Prix knowhow. Even though I’m a keen cyclist, and currently training hard to ride Bupa Around the Bay with the Bupa team, cars are my real passion and greatest extravagance.
FOOD & DRINK I love good food and wine and am fortunate enough to get the chance to enjoy some great meals. But my real favourites are pretty simple: a good curry or a burger and chips – eaten with family.
WEEKEND INDULGENCE Sleep! My schedule’s pretty packed with work, travel and exercise, so catching up on sleep is a genuine luxury.
THERE SHOULD BE MORE… Hard work, honesty and Chelsea wins.
THERE SHOULD BE LESS… Office politics, chewing gum, bureaucracy and waste.
RIDE FOR A CHILD IN NEED
Bupa is the key sponsor of one of Australia’s premier mass participation events, the Bupa Around the Bay cycling ride in Melbourne.
BUPA’S 8 ESSENTIALS FOR CYCLING
Running since 1994, Around the Bay was originally devised by Bicycle Network as a 210km ride circumnavigating Port Philip Bay to test out what was expected to be approximately 500 riders. Last year, more than 14,000 riders participated in the event that now also offers six different routes and lengths, including the premier 250km ‘loop’ of the bay.
Here are eight essential items you should never leave home without when heading out on your bike.
The event raises funds for The Smith Family’s Child in Need program, which supports primary school children with educational essentials such as school books, school bags, uniforms and shoes for a whole year. For 2014, the event is aiming to raise $1,200,00 to support 2,325 primary school children. Bupa Around the Bay 2014 will be held on Sunday 19th October 2014 in Melbourne and Bupa has a strong team participating, including our Managing Director of Australia New Zealand, Dean Holden. For more information visit: bicyclenetwork.com.au/bupa-around-the-bay
BUPA & STRAVA – ONE BUPA ON YOUR PHONE! Strava is an online tool that allows you to track your rides and runs via your iPhone, Android or GPS device and helps you analyse and quantify your performance. This year, we have set up a Team Bupa (AustNZ) network so you can support and encourage both yourself and your fellow Bupa team members as you undertake a range of active challenges, including potentially training for the Bupa Around the Bay 2014. Join up now at: www.strava.com/clubs/ team-bupa-aust-nz-105245
1 Water Pack at least one full bottle of water… two if you are riding more than 50km. 2 Food Choose a food that’s easy to consume on the go and will fit into your jersey pockets easily… e.g. muesli bars, biscuits or bananas. 3 Pump Essential for any ride because you never know when you’ll get a puncture! 4 Spare inner tube Always carry at least one spare inner tube with you on every ride. 5 Tyre levers To make sure you can get your tyre off the rim as quickly as possible without resorting to your fingers! 6 Mobile phone Make sure it’s fully charged before you go and perhaps place in a zip lock sandwich bag to protect from sweat or the elements. 7 Cash or bank card To help when all of the above fail! 8 House key Just to make sure you’re not standing outside your house in lycra for any longer than required!
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AT A GLANCE Kayeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top tip for working from home. Kaye recommends maintaining a structure to your day with planned breaks that can be used constructively, whether to do small bursts of housework or make contact with other people to take the place of normal office banter.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME Kaye Williamsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience shows that working from home can be a big plus for everyone. Kaye, her family, her customers and Bupa are all reaping the benefits of the modern work-life balance. 24 | BEAT
“ Life is meant to be lived! It’s not just about going to work, getting a pay slip, going to bed, then waking up and going to work again. Of course, it helps that I love my job!”
Bupa Health Coach and Registered Nurse, Kaye Williamson started working from home in September 2013. She was accepted into the Bupa Health Dialog’s Health Coaching from Home Program, which provides outreach services to customers aged 55 to 90 to “promote a longer, healthier, happier life” with a focus on encouraging positive lifestyle changes. The main reason Kaye decided to experiment with working from home was that her daily commute was taking over three hours. This affected the amount and quality of the time she was spending with her husband and left her feeling exhausted after making a simple dinner every night. Kaye’s managers were very supportive and offered her a three-month trial as a Health Coach working from home. “My managers felt that with less travel and more time at home, that the quality of my work would improve. And you know what? It has. My life is now just so much more in balance since I’ve come home.” Some of the benefits were immediately apparent. For example, “Sleeping in a little longer in the morning!” Kaye says with a laugh. Kaye confesses that the biggest drawback to this lifestyle is that sometimes it can feel a bit lonely. She easily overcomes this by chatting to her daughter on the phone or popping over to visit her neighbours. She adds that, “My husband knows that I’m going to chew his ear off when he gets home! But at least now we’re eating dinner at six-thirty rather than eight o’clock.” Soren Pedersen is one customer who has been impressed by the quality of Kaye’s Health
Coaching. Soren suffered a brain aneurysm in July last year. After undergoing three major operations, Soren endured severe postoperative fatigue. Then, late last year, Soren received a call from Kaye Williamson. As a former marketing and advertising professional, Soren admits that he is generally ‘extremely cynical’ when it comes to corporate customer service initiatives. In the past, his contact with ‘young and inexperienced relationship managers’ has often left a bad taste. “By complete contrast, I found Kaye
Kaye’s managers were very supportive and offered her a three-month trial as a Health Coach working from home. actually called back when she said she was going to. Secondly, she sounded experienced, in that she was able to relate to my condition. So I felt like I was speaking to someone who understood what I was going through. Thirdly, she promised to send through helpful information, and she actually did,” Soren says. “She was also pleasant and affable on the phone to boot! Kaye is just outstanding,” Soren concludes. Kaye’s customers aren’t the only ones to see the positives. Kaye says that her daughter was ‘really rapt’ to hear that Bupa had allowed Kaye to start working from home. “She said, ‘Mum, they’ve got faith in you’. She thinks I look healthier and less stressed. She can really see the benefits.”
For the most part, it’s the small bonuses that have allowed Kaye to lead both a more productive working life and a happier personal life. “It’s the little things. You can do things during your breaks that you just can’t do at work. At lunch time, I can put a load of washing on.” So what’s Kaye’s number one piece of advice for anyone thinking of getting involved in Bupa’s Health Coaching from Home Program? “Give it a go! You’ve got absolutely nothing to lose.” Kaye reminds anyone thinking about making the switch that if they decide they don’t like it, they can always go back to working in the city. Kaye reminds us, “Life is meant to be lived! It’s not just about going to work, getting a pay slip, going to bed, then waking up and going to work again. Of course, it helps that I love my job!”
A HEALTHCARE PARTNER TO MILLIONS MORE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD
PEOPLE LOVE WORKING AT BUPA
EXTRAORDINARY BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
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BUPA BRAIN TRAINER
ACROSS 5 Our global employee recognition program is the what awards?
1
7 How many more people does Bupa want to be a health partner to by 2020?
2
10 Quinoa is a _____ 11 Zinc is a ______
DOWN
12 The month Bupa Medical Visa Services Australia launched
1 Bupa Optical’s former name 2 The Bupa Around the Bay 2014 supports the _____ Family
4
3
3 Bupa’s purpose is ‘Longer, ______, happier lives’
5
4 Bupa’s Global Head Office is in which city?
6
6 A bulb thought to have medicinal properties 7 Dean Holden’s dream car 8 Bupa’s retail store Sustainability Program is the ______ Program
7
8
9 Our health coaching over the phone service is called Bupa Health ______ 9
10
11
12
Test your Bupa knowledge! Some questions are general knowledge. Others refer to articles within BEAT. ANSWERS: ACROSS 5. Breakthrough 7. Millions 10. Grain 11. Mineral 12. July DOWN 1. Blink 2. Smith 3. Healthier 4. London 6. Garlic 7. McLaren 8. Spark 9. Dialog
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TEAM MEMBER PROFILE Flora Guarascio
Working in health and care every day gives us a good understanding of what’s real… and what’s not!
Flora Guarascio has drawn a lot of life experiences in becoming the General Manager of Bupa Aged Care in Dural, NSW. Flora Guarascio never intended to make a career at Bupa. But 22 years later, she’s glad she did. In December 1992, Flora took her first job at Bupa as a sales and service consultant. After holding various other positions within the organisation, Flora eventually went on to become the manager at one of Bupa’s retail centres. But then, in 2001, Flora left Bupa to launch a small business. “It was a time that my husband and I wanted to try something on our own. We opened a café and it went well, but it was a lot of hard work.” Ultimately, Flora decided that the café took away more than it gave back. So she decided to return to Bupa because, “They were good to me and I believe in what they do.” However, Flora’s “new” career at Bupa took quite an unexpected turn, considering her background was in sales. “I started to study a Cert 3 in Aged Care. I volunteered at one of the aged care facilities all of last year… and I just thought ‘Yeah, that’s where I want to be’.”
BUPA BLOOPER
Flora was later accepted into a Bachelor of Nursing, but was faced with a conundrum when she was also offered the role of General Manager at the Bupa Dural aged care facility – there simply wasn’t time to pursue both. Flora knew that taking the job at Bupa was the right choice. “[Bupa] gave me so many opportunities. So I felt that, in return, I should give them the loyalty and the expertise that they helped me develop,” she explains. Flora’s journey proves just how achievable it is to embrace your ambitions, even when they don’t necessarily align with your past experience. Flora also recommends making the most of working for an organisation that encourages you to challenge yourself. As Flora says, “I was surrounded by a lot of good support at Bupa. It gives you the support you need to grow and to be where you want to be.”
Why do the doctors and nurses on TV medical dramas all seem to arrive at the same time, eat lunch together and all have the chance to wind down at the bar next door each night? Is that really what happens in our hospitals and medical centres? Well, according to a 1996 article in The New England Journal of Medicine, it’s not. ‘Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on Television — Miracles and Misinformation’ highlighted that patients who receive CPR in medical TV shows have a survival rate of more than 60%, compared to real life CPR recipients at around 5% survival rate (in 1996). So it sounds like it’s not just the story line that is fictional! And that got us thinking – there must be many instances of incorrect procedures and funny health scenarios that happen in our favourite TV shows, medical or otherwise. If you see any, or have some favourites you remember from old shows or movies, send them in to us at: beat@bupa.com.au We’ll be sure to publish our favourites!
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Information and insights from the world of Bupa to keep you up to date on Global, Market and Business Unit news.
BUPA BITES
BUSINESSES
Dental Corporation rebranding
The new Healthy Selfie app
In May, Dental Corporation, part of our Health Services business unit, added ‘Part of Bupa’ to its brand.
We can’t do much about getting old, but a new Bupa app is showing just how much control we have over how we age.
The rebranding coincided with the one year anniversary of Bupa acquiring Dental Corporation. For the past year, Health Services has worked closely with the Dental Corporation management team to understand each other’s systems and to align strategies for future success. Dental Corporation Managing Director Mark Evans said through this work Dental Corporation has become more engaged in the Bupa family. “We now offer Bupa employee discounts on our services, we’re supporting corporate responsibility and sustainability projects and increasing communication about Bupa’s vision and purpose.” “Our relationship with Bupa places us in a very strong position to take advantage of future opportunities and we are confident that the next few years will see Dental Corporation and its practices strengthen our market leading position,” said Mark. In May, Dental Corporation also celebrated a new milestone, reaching a total of 200 practices across Australia and New Zealand, reinforcing its position as one of the leading providers of dental services across ANZ.
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TECHNOLOGY
Presidents are doing it. Celebrities and footballers are in on the craze. Selfies are the modern self-portrait, and Bupa is joining in with our very own Healthie Selfie app. Through clever software development and medical research, the app shows how smoking, alcohol, sunlight exposure and poor diet will affect our faces as we get older, and the results can be less than pleasing on the eye! The Healthie Selfie idea came out of the Clinical Forum in May, following a breakthrough thinking session between Bupa’s Digital Director Alan Payne and Medical Director at the Bupa Cromwell Hospital Dr Paul Montgomery. Since then, teams have worked at lightning-quick speed to take the app from concept to phone, and the app will be ready to launch in September. Once launched, download the Healthie Selfie app to your phone and share your pictures on Twitter using the #healthieselfie hashtag.
PEOPLE
FINANCE
Taking guidance from our own GPS
Bupa’s global half year results 2014
A core goal within our Bupa 2020 vision is that people should love working here.
Our global financial results for the first half of 2014 show steady progress because of joint efforts around the world. By being disciplined with managing finances and continuing to focus on integrating new businesses acquired, Bupa is continuing to build on the momentum started last year and drive strong financial performance.
One of the innovative tools we have to keep track of how our people feel about working here is our annual Global People Survey (GPS). This gives you and everyone else at Bupa a voice, firstly by having your say through the GPS in September, then by being actively involved in making changes and improvements with your leaders and peers based on what the survey has told us. The GPS helps us celebrate the things we do well and identify those areas where we can make improvements. The changes we make based on the GPS affect us every single day, and it’s something we can be talking about with our teams all year round. Every year we use the guidance provided by our own GPS to move closer to our goal and make Bupa a more enjoyable and fulfilling place to work, but of course there’s always plenty of scope for improvement. By providing honest and thoughtful feedback, every single one of us can help to make Bupa a place where we all love to work. That makes GPS more than just a survey we complete once a year. It’s the foundation for achieving Bupa 2020.
We’re seeing continuing growth right across our businesses, with customer and revenue growth driven by the investments we made in 2013. Our customer numbers have grown 39% to 22m, including 4.4m added through major acquisitions. Revenues are up 16% to £4.8bn and underlying profits have increased by 12% to £259.8m, at constant exchange rates. A number of our major markets are experiencing challenging conditions. Against this backdrop, actions to improve operational effectiveness and strengthen operating models are beginning to deliver benefits which are being passed on to our customers and we are well positioned to drive good growth from all our businesses. The diverse nature of our international product and service portfolio puts us in a strong position to leverage our expertise and experience, to tackle healthcare’s biggest challenges and reach millions more people across the world.
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n MY CAREER AT BUPA
FORTY YEARS ON Celebrating more than four decades with Bupa, Sally and Sandra have learned to embrace change in a job that is never boring.
Sally Debrowski Sally Debrowski began working for Bupa as a bright-eyed teenager on July 17, 1972. She was nervous. It was her very first job, after all. Today, Sally works as a Claims Assessor in South Australia. She reminisces about her long history with Bupa with no trace of the nervousness that defined her first day on the job. But that’s hardly surprising – a lot can change in 42 years. Sally says the switch to using computers and email was the most exciting change she’s seen in that time. She’s been a big fan of the
internet revolution. “I’ve always been an old typist from way back. So I thought it was great. I started working on a manual typewriter with carbon paper!” Aside from the technology shift, Sally says that Bupa has spearheaded so many interesting changes within the organisation that it’s always kept her on her toes. She encourages others to see opportunity in Bupa’s ever-evolving environment. “Be prepared to embrace change, because things never stand still,” Sally says.
Sally Debrowski (centre, circa 1972)
Sandra Kohlhagen As far as first weeks on the job go, they don’t get much more dramatic than Sandra Kohlhagen’s back in September 1974. “We had a major flood! It was threatening to tip over the levee banks. The old MBF office was built right on the levee banks on Sturt Street in Wagga Wagga. And I remember thinking, ‘I wonder whether I’ll actually be starting work on Monday’. But luckily the levee banks held, so all was good.” It seems that flooding has been a recurrent theme in Sandra’s career at Bupa. “In the time that I’ve worked for Bupa, Medicare was introduced by one government. Then it was taken away by another. And then it was reintroduced again,” Sandra recalls. This tumultuous back-and-forth caused a lot of confusion for the general public… that’s
30 | BEAT
when the second “flood” came. “The first day of one of the Medicare changeovers, we arrived at work and there was this great big line of people going all the way down the street. People had been queuing up for so long that they had their foldup chairs with them in the queue! It didn’t let up for about two full days.” It sounds overwhelming, but it has been these moments—the human interactions—that Sandra treasures most. “There was always a challenge. The job is never boring. You just need to go with the flow and believe that the end result will be positive,” Sandra says. Being able to appreciate the positive results of your hard work is paramount. Because, as Sandra says, 40 years will be “gone in a blink.”
Sandra Kohlhagen
YEARS OF SERVICE
STAYING POWER
Recognising the Bupa spirit of our extraordinary people.
40+ YEARS
Carol Mitchell Sally Debrowski Sandra Kohlhagen
35 YEARS Beverley Benwell
30 YEARS Nisha Dahya Karen Bourke Kerry Fradd Valerie Kemp
25 YEARS Lynda Smith Diane Thompson Trudy Horgan Cherie Brennan Wendy Childs Cheryle Sainsbury Etina Paletua
20 YEARS Pamela Burgess Priscilla Fonseka Marion Gore Erina Norling Helen Sugrue Mary Yates Mavis Dolman Georgina Hughes
10 YEARS Nelly Masinambouw Roxanne Randall Ian Slattery Agnes Zakarias Richard Anthony Stephanie Dellow Rui Regodeiro Teresa Baldock
15 YEARS Catherine Dane Heather Rymer Denise Michelle Rowan Newport Pamela Roberts Alison Riley Carolina Trayes Marie Aranga Shirley Dore Jane Martin Wendy Dempster Kiriwera Maniapoto Lorraine McLeod Deborah Bowkett Irene Castillo Elmido Fatafehi Funaki Ana Gomez
Jennifer Green Simone Kermode Siti Koya Therese Mortlock Barbara Russell Dhanesari Sharma Helen Sims Mirjana Spasenovska Vilma Sultana Josephine Tui Dragica Vignjevic Lily Hong Julie Dunn Peter Powell Renee Cox Karen Sanchez Antonino Romeo
Dianne Green Phyllis Mcilhagga Clare Smith Deborah Lambeth Anne Warmouth Sue Tutu Gina Langlands Minoo Baker Janet Turner Glory Recierdo Robyn Napier Kamini Kumar Rana Watts Lolita Estinozo Margaret Stowell Elaine Wadsworth Judith Lennane Denise Bradley Doris Bayliss Glynis Howard Mele Lousi Luisa Naufahu Christine Hoar Menima Lapana Sharon Anyan Melvyn Fairbairn Jaymie Arthur Carol Baday
Teresita Beckett Laureen Bell Jeanette Blair Raelene Burchell Eugenia Carroll Cheryl Chapman Leanne Clarke Janet Coppinger Jennifer Doyle Angela Faulks Dianne Ferguson Laumahoi Fifita Michelle French Susan Godwin Cheryl Gonzalez Tracey Hasselmann Anthony Hughes Carol Huriwai Jenelle Jones Teresa Krabs Helen Lewicki Rosemary Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Huillier Li Yu Li Vickie Lynch Jaqueline Makuzha Christopher Mann Anne Mundy Kathryn Murray
Louise Oliphant Beatrice Ozcu Violet Russell Gail Ryan Kylie Shepherd Jane Singh Donna Smith Rhonda Smith Elke Walsh Paulita Warburton Kylie Warke Gabrielle Kelly Alex Lau Toni Lee Laura Ferrari Marian Kobayashi Tanja-Liisa Penrose Michelle Mills Albina Grabic Andrew Ashcroft Vanessa Fix Aleisha Kuczmarski Diana Payne Stephanie Fielding Deirdre Samartzis Emma Zipper Jennifer Bundu
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OUR EMPLOYEE DENTAL PROGRAM
FREQUENT SMILER Take a healthy bite out of dentist bills for you and your family. Dental Corporation, part of our Health Services business unit, offers a corporate dental program for all Bupa employees and their families. • Enjoy 10% off all dental treatments • Private health insurance compatible • Hundreds of locations around Australia and New Zealand Go online to register and find a practice near you.
dentalcarenetwork.com