Drake Medox Client Handbook

Welcome to Drake Medox

About Drake Medox

Drake Medox is part of the international recruitment company, Drake International. The company started in Canada in 1951 and now has offices all around the world. Drake Medox is a specialty supplier of temporary and permanent homecare support workers and nursing staff to clients.

Our Purpose

Drake Medox empowers individuals and organisations in the health sector to maximise their true potential by delivering high quality, personalised care and solutions.

Drake Medox provides healthcare services with:

• High and Complex needs in homes, communities, and institutional settings.

Our Service

The overall aim of our service is to enable and encourage our clients to be as independent as possible, living the life they choose. We do this through an individualized, Holistic approach and provide support that meets client–specific personal and cultural needs.

Diversity & Inclusion

Drake Medox is committed to a culture that embraces and fosters diversity and inclusion across all levels of our business. We achieve this through eliminating stigmas and limitations and creating a culture of inclusion through the promotion of education, awareness, and mutual understanding.

Drake Medox will work with you on creating a safe and harmonious service.

Our Staff

Drake Medox staff comprise:

• Consultants/Recruitment Coordinators recruit, place and manage our Support Workers, manage rosters and payroll processes, and are the people you first contact if you have a problem or concern.

• Clinical Coordinators are AHPRA registered health professionals (usually nurses) who are responsible for planning client support, making sure staff have the training needed, and monitoring the progress of your care and goals.

• Field Staff or Support Workers who provide clients with ongoing care and needs as directed.

This booklet will provide you some information about the care we will be providing you, and how you can give us feedback.

Your Care Plan and associated documents

Our Clinical Coordinator will have developed a Care Plan and associated care assessments specific to you. The clinical coordinator would have developed this in collaboration with you and your supported network of choice (family member, friend etc.) You will have signed this and will have received a copy. A copy of your Care Plan will be made available for your staff to read as it tells them what care they will be providing.

The information contained within your Care Plan forms an agreement between Drake Medox and yourself, regarding the services that are to be provided.

This plan will be reviewed as required and at a minimum annually in person or via phone/ Teams.

Goals

If you feel the information needs to be updated at any time, please contact us and we will arrange a time at your convenience to meet, so that we can record the changes required.

It may seem unnecessary to you to have your care outlined in such detail, however, it is an important part of providing continuity of care should the circumstances of your current team change at short notice. For this reason, we ask that both you and your team let us know if anything contained in this document needs to be changed or updated.

In addition, your home is also your staff members’ workplace and our obligation as their employer is to ensure safety both from the environment and the care tasks they are required to undertake.

Your Care Plan includes the goals that you have set for either your short or long-term future. As part of their role, your team will encourage you to complete or work towards as many goals as you can within the guidelines of your Care Plan. Should you have any concerns, call your consultant or Clinical Coordinator.

When your Care Plan is being reviewed, so will your goals (usually yearly). This is a time to reflect on your progress towards achieving these goals and to evaluate our support with that progress.

Our Services

Depending on the services we have been contracted to provide, your Care Plan may include some or all of the following services:

Rights & Responsibilities

We believe that clients and their families, support workers and advocates have an inherent right to respect, dignity and privacy.

In your dealings with us, you are entitled to all basic legal, moral and consumer rights. You also have responsibilities to our staff who provide services to you. These rights and responsibilities are outlined below.

Drake Medox clients have the right to:

An independent advocate to represent them and be present at all meetings and discussions with Drake Medox

Please feel free to request a copy of policy 2.16 Independent advocacy for further details and contacts.

• Be treated with respect, dignity and privacy, ensuring all personal information is kept confidential, consistent with the National Privacy Principles

• Have their values, beliefs and cultural needs respected

• Freedom from discrimination, coercion, harassment and exploitation

• A service that is appropriate for their needs, which is provided with reasonable care and skill

• Competent and professional care that minimises potential harm, optimises their quality of life, and promotes and maintains their independence

• Full and complete information on the care they receive

• Make an informed choice and give informed consent to their care, including the right to change support worker or service provider

• Make a complaint and have any concerns or complaints dealt with, including Restrictive Practices; fairly and promptly

• To make complaints to external bodies such as the state or federal ombudsmen; in regard to restrictive practice complain to Health and Community Services complaints commission; NDIA

• Can request a review for the use of Restrictive Practices or of existing restrictive practices in the behaviour support plan

• Being consulted and involved with the development and review of their service plan

• Access information kept by Drake Medox that pertains to their care

• Decline treatment without fear of retribution from Drake Medox employees

• Access to an interpreter if required.

Drake Medox clients are responsible for:

• Treating everyone involved in their care with respect and dignity

• Providing and maintaining a clean and safe environment in their home so that care can be provided safely (e.g., not smoking while care givers are present)

• Ensuring they have current comprehensive insurance for any vehicles they or their family own, that are to be used in the provision of their care

• Providing access to basic necessities for the comfort of their support workers (e.g., access to kitchen and bathroom facilities, adequate heating and lighting, and comfortable seating)

• Allowing access to a telephone that may be used to coordinate their care, and in emergencies

• Complying with clinical professional advice, treatments and care, or informing healthcare providers if they do not intend to comply

• Taking responsibility for the results of any decisions they have made

• Ensuring all medical records and documentation are not altered, and are accessible to all Drake Medox staff and other healthcare professionals

• Informing Drake Medox:

• Of any changes to their environment that may affect care requirements

• If they are admitted to hospital, or travel away from their home overnight

• Making a complaint on the correct form provided in their Client Information Folder

• Acknowledging and abiding by reasonable requirements of Drake Medox in complying with legislation (e.g., Anti-Discrimination Act, Privacy Act)

• Acknowledging Drake Medox’s duty of care and accepting our right to withhold services that are inappropriate or likely to incur an unacceptable risk to any party.

Drake Medox staff have the right to:

• Be treated with respect and dignity

• A timely response to all verbal and / or written communication requests

• Have any concerns or complaints dealt with fairly and promptly.

Drake Medox is responsible for:

• Providing appropriately trained support workers to provide care for the funded client

• Ensuring all support workers have enough information to enable them to perform their duties in a satisfactory manner

• Attending any care / service review meetings involving the client, the client’s family, the funder or associated healthcare personnel, as required

• Involving the client and support workers in decisions on the assessment and service delivery plan

• Informing the client about the service to be delivered and fee charged (if applicable)

• Ensuring a client’s refusal of a service is respected and that any future attempts are not prejudiced because of that refusal

• Accepting the client’s choice and involvement of an advocate to represent their interests

• Taking the client’s views into account when planning, managing and evaluating service provision

• Providing the funder and any associated healthcare personnel with regular feedback on progress and other relevant issues that may affect the delivery of care

• Resolving any conflicts in a timely manner, and seeking assistance from the funder if required

• Provide contacts to external bodies such as Complaints Commission; Privacy Ombudsmen; Restrictive Practices Authorities; NDIS; NDIA

• Ensuring all Drake Medox staff have a safe and healthy workplace

• Responding quickly to any emergencies, in accordance with legal requirements for a duty of care.

Site Inspection of the property

Prior to beginning services, a Drake Medox consultant will attend your home and conduct a risk assessment. This process will minimise the risk of harm occurring to you or our staff during service provision.

The Drake Medox consultant or clinical coordinator uses a printed copy of the Site Inspection Form to look for and record any potential hazards in your home and identify the best way of controlling these hazards/risks. This must be done before the service starts and annually thereafter, or each time there is a reported injury or hazard.

Personal Care

Personal care includes, but is not limited to, helping you with toileting, showering and dressing, etc. Your staff will be present to make sure you can complete these basic hygiene tasks in a safe manner and according to your therapeutic needs.

When doing specific personal cares (such as assisting with toileting and changing or laundering wet or soiled linen or clothing), your staff member is required to wear gloves to prevent contact with blood or body fluids.

The purpose of wearing gloves is that it creates a protective barrier for infection control, and it is for your safety as well as the safety of our staff. If you notice that supplies of gloves are running low, please request more from your consultant or your usual supplier.

Domestic Assistance

Domestic assistance includes regular housework tasks as specified on your Care Plan, such as vacuuming, laundry, changing linen, cleaning bathrooms, ironing and loading the dishwasher.

Part of your staff member’s role is to encourage you to undertake or assist with tasks where you are able. You are responsible for working towards your rehabilitation goals and as part of this you may be encouraged to do some tasks for yourself. Domestic assistance does not include: “spring cleaning” tasks like cleaning windows, cleaning the oven, moving heavy items of furniture, over-head work, or pet or garden care.

Drake Medox recognises that every person has their own way of doing housework.

To ensure household tasks are completed the way you prefer, please assist your support worker by informing them:

• Of your cleaning priorities. For example, how often they should clean beneath rubbish bins, or change bed linen (if not soiled).

• Which cleaning products and equipment should be used for specific areas.

Note: It is your responsibility to provide the appropriate cleaning equipment, cleaning products, cloths, etc.

Assisting or Administering Medication

If your staff are involved with your medication, the health sector has very strict guidelines to which we must conform. Your clinical coordinator will have put in place a process to manage this and provided specific training to your needs. It is important that you allow the staff to follow this process.

Failure to do so exposes you to possible harm and staff to professional risk.

Policy 2.4 Client Medication Management Policy sets out our processes.

Meal Preparation

Meal preparation means planning, preparing and/or cooking meals. If you have any specific dietary requirements, please tell your support worker. You are required to supply all food and cooking equipment.

Our policy “Mealtime and Choking Management Policy including management of aspiration and dysphagia” will be used by the clinical coordinators in the development of your mealtime preparation should it be required.

Your specific mealtime requirements will also be documented in your Care Plan.

Shopping

If your Care Plan includes shopping, your support worker will help you with buying groceries.

If you are going shopping with your support worker, there must be clear authorisation and documentation before staff can use your car. The consultant will confirm your car has a current registration and is insured. Your mode of transportation will be documented in your Care Plan.

If you ask your staff member to go shopping without you, they must bring back receipts and complete a ledger that you also must sign. If you are unable to sign, staff are required to take a photo of the receipt and completed transaction log and send this to Drake Medox. This is then followed with a phone call to the consultant for additional sign off.

We ask you to check all receipts and the form carefully before you sign. If there are ever any discrepancies, contact your consultant immediately.

Note: You must never give staff your credit or EFTPOS card, or details of your PIN numbers or bank accounts.

Policy 2.6 Handling client financial transactions and property policy set out our procedures.

Complaints and Incidents

Drake Medox takes all reports of complaints and incidents very seriously. Policy 4.5 Handling complaints and incidents is dedicated to our process of accepting, investigating, and finding an agreed resolution.

An incident is when something out of the ordinary happens which you think is serious. For example, if your equipment fails or a medication error. Use the Complaint and Incident Form in your Drake Medox Information Folder to report a complaint or incident. Alternatively, an email or phone call is also acceptable.

If you are not happy with the outcome of a complaint or incident report made to Drake Medox, contact your local ombudsman.

State Contact Details

NDIS Quality and Safeguard Commission

1800 035 544

Theft or Damage to Property

Drake Medox takes care to ensure the honesty and integrity of our employees through a thorough screening, reference checking, NDIS worker and Police checking process.

Australian Capital Territory

ACT Disability and Community Services Commission @ ACT Human Rights Commission 6205 2222

Quality, Complaints and Regulators

13 22 81 www.act.qov.au

Report critical incidents to the Director-General community Services Directorate: 6207 5474 quality@act.gov.au; www.communityservices.act.gov.au

New South Wales 02 9286 1000

Outside Metropolitan Sydney 1800 451 524

Northern Territory 08 8999 1818

Outside Metropolitan Darwin 1800 806 380

Victoria 03 9613 6222

Outside Metropolitan Melbourne 1800 806 314

Queensland 07 3005 7000

Outside Metropolitan Brisbane 1800 068 908

Western Australia 08 92220 7555

Outside Metropolitan Perth 1800 117 000

Any allegations that may include, but are not limited to theft, deliberate damage, and unprofessional conduct, will be investigated in a formal manner as per our Handling Complaints and Incidents Policy and Handling Client Financial Transactions and Property Policy.

Where it is found that a false, fictitious, or troublesome claim has been made, Drake Medox retains the right to ignore the claim and may choose to cease the provision of care to the client.

Accidents and Near-misses

An accident is when someone at your home is harmed through an accident like a fall. A near-miss (also called a near-hit) is where, in different circumstances someone may have been harmed, e.g., someone trips over a rug but manages to stop themself from falling. They were lucky they didn’t get hurt this time, but next time someone trips over the rug they may fall and get hurt.

It’s important that we know about accidents and near-misses so we can try to make sure they don’t happen again. This will help keep everyone at your home safe.

Use the Complaint and Incident Form to report all accidents or near-misses. Alternatively, a call or email notification can also be used.

We appreciate your time in giving feedback, both positive and constructive, as it helps us improve our service. We regularly ask our clients to give us feedback, but you can give us feedback at any time. Regular feedback is provided via scheduled service review meetings with a Drake Medox representative.

Please contact your consultant, or if you would prefer to speak to someone independent from your consultant, please contact the Drake Medox Quality Assurance Representative. Alternatively, you can provide anonymous complaints by sending your de-identified form or email to Medoxfeedback@au.drakeintl.com; or mail to GPO Box 177 Sydney NSW 2001.

To report a complaint, incident, accident, near-miss, or give feedback you can: Phone, Email Drake Medox or fill in the correct form in this pack and post it to us:

Feedback

Client service reviews are conducted quarterly or as often as you have nominated.

For client’s that live alone with one support worker only, contact will occur at a greater frequency to ensure your safety.

Your Support Staff

Timesheets

Your staff are allocated their shifts via our rostering service “Deputy”, and they are required to login and out at the start and end of their shift. This provides us with a digital record from which their pay is processed. If requested, you also can have visibility to your roster on Deputy.

Number of hours

You set the hours that the support worker is required to work but if you are not privately funded the number of hours is usually limited to what you are funded for. If you have any queries about the number of hours of care you receive, contact your consultant.

Standard of presentation

All Field Staff must wear professional and comfortable clothing that is suitable for their role and your home environment.

Good standards of appearance and personal hygiene are essential.

Clothing must be well fitted. Footwear must be fully enclosed and provide full protection to feet and toes of our staff unless other arrangements have been agreed to prior. If this is not the case, please contact your consultant to discuss.

What to do if your staff member does not arrive

Occasionally a situation may arise where a staff member is unable to make the agreed time. If this happens, they must contact Drake Medox as soon as possible and we will contact you. If your support staff has not arrived at the arranged time, please phone our office.

If you need to cancel or change an appointment

Our staff are asked not to give personal information to clients for privacy reasons.

If something happens that clashes with the appointment time or you need to contact your staff member for any other reason, please contact our office and we will liaise with them. The 1300 360 070 Drake Medox number is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you are going away

If you are going away from home (e.g., to hospital or on holiday), you must contact our office.

Your Support Staff

Cancellations

If you need to cancel a rostered service, please contact your consultant as soon as possible. We require a 24-hour cancellation period unless circumstances prevent otherwise (e.g., unexpected hospitalisation). As a cancellation fee may occur under the Social Community, Homecare and Disability award that governs our service, your consultant will be able to tell you if a fee will be incurred.

Communications and privacy

We do not give your phone number or email address to your staff; however, this information may be present on your Care Plan. Staff are informed not to contact you directly when they are not working in your home.

All communication (such as advising they are running late) must be made through the Drake Medox office. We will advise you, and if required, arrange alternative care.

Note:

• Do not give your staff member your phone number or email address

• Do not ask your staff for their phone number or other personal information

• All communications with your staff member when they are not working at your home must be made via the Drake Medox office.

• Do not engage in ‘gossip’ about other staff members, Drake Medox, or other agencies involved in your health care

• We are aware that you and your support team may develop a friendship. Please maintain a professional relationship while your staff member is being paid to support you by Drake Medox.

Illegal activities

Do not disclose any personal or unnecessary information to your staff.

If Drake Medox staff witness any illegal activity whilst being paid for the care provided to you, they are required to report it to their consultant.

Contact

We encourage you to call your consultant at any time if you wish to discuss your rights as a client, the service you are receiving, or any other aspect of our service.