DADHC Restructure Bulletin

Restructure of Accommodation & Respite Services

This structure failed and the lack of a manager based in the units was a major factor contributing towards unsupervised, untrained staff resulting in an increased rate of incidents. The Minister, in response to this, stated publicly that House Managers would be reintroduced into group homes and respite services.

The Department have now tabled its proposed restructure which falls short of this. It is proposing to create a position of Team Leader. In some units the Team Leader will manage a single unit and have a mix of direct care and managerial responsibilities. For the majority of units however a Team Leader will have managerial responsibilities over two units. The only criteria being that the units are within 10 minutes travelling time of each other.

Tied in with this proposal as "a package deal" are a number of proposed changes which undermine the current conditions of employment for members, they include:

• a proposal which would enable management to roster full time staff to shifts which would vary in length from 4 to 10 hours.
• limiting the ability of staff to swap shifts.
• Team Leaders working in units not being paid penalty rates.

The clear message from the members is that they want the PSA on their behalf to strongly pursue the establishment of a Team Leader position in each group home and respite centre.

Members are also opposed to the notion of full time employees being required to work less than 8 hours in a shift.

The PSA delegates involved in the negotiations with the Department have presented the Department with an alternative structure which meets the wishes of the members.

The PSA's proposal has been costed by the Department and the difference in cost is negligible. This has forced the Department to have to give serious consideration to the PSA's proposal as a viable alternative.

Whilst these negotiations are ongoing, the area of dispute will be the Department's attempts to 'package' its claims for changes in working conditions with a staffing restructure.

The PSA's Executive has endorsed the DADHC Departmental Committee's actions to pursue the claim to establish a Team Leader position in every group home and respite unit and any necessary action required to protect attacks on the working conditions for DADHC employees.

Further update of Accommodation & Respite Services

The Department tabled a broad range of comments as captured by the Department during the recent A&R road-show. These comments also support our claim:

• Preference for Team Leader in all units
• Staff uncertainty about 4 hours shifts
• Impact on pay and potential for split shifts
• Team Leaders and concerns over the workload split
• Desire to see transition plans, more details and salary scales.

The PSA has further expanded upon these concerns and the following information has formed the basis for further discussions between both parties:

• Pay scales and transition for existing staff
• Team Leader and back fill of Team Leader
• 1 Team Leader per unit and facilities which are OH&S complaint
• Location of WFM
• Rate of pay and how it works
• What are the duties
• Ratio of PSC
• Span of supervision for CAR
• Ration of SSO in BSU
• On call, span of on call rostering will this apply (MS Model)
• Delegations of staff in house
• DSW Specialist, how will they be used
• Outline how model works for in-home support
• Training for current staff who do not have qualifications including casuals
• Short shifts
• And other Award changes

Should you have further comments or questions regarding the Accommodation & Respite Restructure, please call Julie Bond on (02) 9220 0961 or email jbond@psa.asn.au

Case Manager Positions

The proposed changes will occur in two phases.

The first phase involves:

• realignment of existing Case Manager positions to A&C Award.
• three new levels of Case Manager positions
• 100 new Senior Case Managers
• 53 new Managers Access and 7 new Senior Managers
• 6 new Senior Case Management Practitioners

The PSA is currently involved in negotiations with the Department on the Position Descriptions for the new positions, the transition arrangements for existing staff and the Conditions of Employment that will apply to these new positions.

The second phase involves:

• the development of a new professional award for Therapists
• an increase in number of Senior Therapists
• a Senior Practitioner for each Therapy discipline
• Behaviour staff being aligned to the A&C Award

Whilst the PSA welcome the reforms and proposed number of new positions we have identified a number of issues which still require consultation.

The concerns include, but are not limited to:

• The impact of the additional Manager Access positions to the current Team Leader positions.
• The necessity for our members to have an understanding of the context of the whole structure in order to make an informed decision about applying for the new positions.
• The placement of Community Support Worker in the new structure.

The Department undertook to:

• provide details of mapping of existing staff against new positions to the PSA
• to provide, to the PSA, the PDs for the Senior and Manager positions and to finalise and evaluate all PDs
• to conduct joint meetings of staff in CSTs in order to ensure staff have an informed understanding as to the role and functions of the new positions.

Day Programs

DADHC operates 33 Day Program centres across the State providing services to clients from both DADHC group homes as well as NGO group homes.

DADHC's plan is to contract out its centres to the Non-Gov sector progressively over the next two years. We have been advised that the first two to go are at Albury and Cootumundra and we have already got good media coverage in that Region on the issue. We do not have a timetable for the rest at this stage.

A year ago the Director General advised of a review into the Day Program Services and we have consistently been asking DADHC for input into the review. This opportunity was not afforded to us. We have now been advised that the Department is telling its staff that the Union was consulted 12 months ago on this proposal!

The PSA Executive has endorsed a campaign opposing the privatisation of DADHC operated Day Program Service. The DADHC Departmental Committee will be managing the campaign.

If you are a PSA member working in a Day Program and want to be kept informed of developments please forward your email details to jbond@psa.asn.au.

If you have any enquiries about this, please contact Julie Bond on (02) 9220 0961 or on email jbond@psa.asn.au.