Strategic Direction 2024-2027
Below is an outline of the Hospices' strategic direction for 2024-2027. This document reflects the course of action and what the Hospice plans to do/provide etc, to help achieve the goals of organization. This broad roadmap outlines how the Hospice is moving forward to reach its vision, mission, and long-term objectives.
Toowoomba Hospice Association Inc.
Strategic Direction 2024-2027
Our Vision
The Toowoomba Hospice provides safe, high-quality palliative and respite care based on mutual respect, trust, and individual needs.
Our Mission
To provide safe, quality care in partnership with the community for those with a terminal illness.
Our Core Values
- To offer safe, quality palliative and respite care
- To deliver multidisciplinary, holistic care
- To ensure the voice of clients, family and carers are heard and acted upon
- To engage and foster the services of staff and volunteers
- To acknowledge and enhance community support
- To provide a centre of excellence in palliative care
- To facilitate education in palliative care for those who seek it
- To offer bereavement support to clients, families, carers and friends
- To ensure service excellence through the development and implementation of policies and procedures
- To provide a safe, secure, and welcoming environments for staff, volunteers, clients, families and carers
- To recognise, acknowledge and embrace cultural diversity and inclusivity for all.
GOAL 1: Quality Service for our Consumers
- Safe environment: As noted in Goal 2: Quality Support for our Staff.
- Evidence based best practice: Maintaining staff qualifications (performance reviews), training resources (training/education register, Ausmed and SDLPs) and the provision of evidence-based care in line with best practice recommendations to ensure our consumers receive the best possible care available.
- Safe equipment: The purchase and maintenance of appropriate consumables including PPE and equipment is prioritised with regular review of the preventative maintenance register and asset register. The Hospice will also look to donate unused equipment to other community organisations when appropriate and as required.
- Consumer focused care: Foster a commitment to providing a positive person-centred culture within the Hospice, where supporting the needs and choices of the client, their family members and carers is prioritised. Continuing bedside handover, promoting consumer engagement at events and the CASC, encouraging consumer feedback via feedback forms and surveys to ensure the voice of the consumer is heard and appropriate changes are implemented as a result.
- Consumer planning CASC: Maintain and utilise the Consumer Advisory Sub-Committee to provide advice from a consumer and community perspective informed by consumer, carer and family member experiences and expectations of the Hospice.
- Community awareness: Promote the Hospice including what we do, who we care for, how we operate and how to access our services within the community via marketing campaigns, the website, brochures, using multimedia and social media, at local events and during fundraising promotions.
- Cultural sensitivity: Staff are supported to understand, learn about, and acknowledge individuals, carers and family members from different cultural groups and communities for whom we care and engage.
- Bereavement Support: Ensure consumers are able to access current bereavement support. Continue to look at way of expanding support for our consumers including the Grief and Support Program.
GOAL 2: Quality Support for our Staff
- Recruitment: Ensure that the Hospice attracts, supports, and retains appropriately skilled staff from diverse backgrounds with the aim of providing a safe, supportive, and productive workplace for all staff at all levels of the organisation.
- Education/Training: Provision of evidenced based, best practice education and training for staff to ensure safe, quality healthcare for our clients. Staff are supported to undergo mandatory and additional training relevant to their role.
- Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing: The Hospice commits to providing a safe environment for staff and consumers by adhering to the Work Health and Safety Regulation Act 2011. The Hospice will continue to develop and review policies and procedures in relation to environmental, physical, and psychological wellbeing. The Hospice will use a formalised reporting structure, overseen by the MC, in relation to incidences or hazards reported within the facility.
- Staff Support: Staff feel supported with debriefing sessions, pastoral care support, grief education and access to counselling via the Business Resilience Program.
- Inclusivity: Our staff are supported to understand, learn about, and acknowledge staff and consumers from different cultural groups and communities. The Hospice will continue to develop our Reconciliation Action Plan and Cultural Practice Policy.
- Consumables: Exploring options to providing a more sustainable workplace in turn, reducing environmental impact, reducing waste, recycling, improving employee health, and creating a more friendly and productive environment.
- Volunteer workforce: Recruiting and maintaining a suitable skilled and diverse volunteer workforce that feels valued and is celebrated within the Hospice.
GOAL 3: Quality Guidance from Governance
- Governance: The development, ongoing monitoring and approval of systems including policies and procedures to ensure quality health care is delivered to consumers in a safe environment.
- Risk Management: Ongoing identification, assessment, prioritisation and management of risk, and the coordinated allocation of resources to minimise, monitor and control the impact of potential or actual risks, including the effective implementation of the Risk Management Framework.
- Information Management Systems: IMSs and processes in place to ensure the integrity, security, privacy, confidentiality, data sharing arrangements and legislative compliance of all information collected, retained, and stored by the Toowoomba Hospice.
- Communication: Provision of a formalised reporting structure overseen by the MC in relation to the delivery of palliative care services and support, operational and managerial issues, staffing profile, volunteer support, clinical, operational, and corporate risks, financial position and engagement with clients, families, and carers.
- Committee Structure: The objectives, role and functions of each Committee and Sub-Committee is clearly articulated within the relevant Terms of Reference and supports the operations of the Hospice, the staff, and consumers.
- Marketing: Effective marketing to identify and communicate the vision and mission of the Hospice within the wider community. Promotion of transparent information accessible to all those concerned.
- Financial Management: Ensure the Hospice remains within budgetary guidelines, accesses community and federal funding when able and adheres to private health regulations for funding purposes.
