How aged care provider Mayflower used technology to increase their funding

About Mayflower: Founded over 50 years ago, the Mayflower Group provides residential aged care services, community care, and independent living options across Victoria.

How Telstra Health helped Mayflower and its healthcare providers

Partnering with Telstra Health

Telstra Health’s presence in the industry was one of the initial reasons Mayflower sought the partnership. “With the backing of Telstra, we knew that there would be the resources to invest in ongoing product advancement,” Dean stated.

“I personally had experience with implementing Telstra Health’s Clinical Manager and Medication Management solutions at previous residential aged care providers, which had been a positive experience,” Dean continued.

Mayflower also wanted to move away from a paper-based system – to work smarter, not harder – and understood that utilising an effective electronic system would help their organisation to achieve this goal.

“Configuration was another key priority for Mayflower,” said Dean. “Clinical Manager and Medication Management enables us to configure Assessment Forms to suit our business, clinical needs and person-centred care.”

Enhanced medication management

Telstra Health’s Medication Management software has provided Mayflower with a level of insight into their medication administration process that was not easily accessible using a paper-based system.

“The increase in visibility has helped us to identify process issues and improve staff practices,” stated Dean. “The software has also helped our organisation to reduce human errors and improve the overall safety of medication administration. Our nurses love using Medication Management; there would be a mutiny if we went back to paper!”

Increased ACFI accuracy

With Clinical Manager and Medication Management, Mayflower has achieved more accurate Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) levels due to improved assessment forms and fewer duplications. Dean explained, “The team at Telstra Health helped us to be more systematic when working through ACFI assessments, which enabled us to resubmit assessments that better reflected the residents’ care needs.”

“Our organisation has achieved an 11% ACFI uplift as a result of accurate evidence that is linked to each ACFI appraisal. This benefit alone has meant that the Clinical Manager and Medication Management solutions paid for themselves very quickly,” stated Dean.

Positive impact on staff

Prior to implementing Clinical Manager and Medication Management, Mayflower’s clinical documentation and medication administration operations were paper-based. The move to an electronic system has therefore meant a significant reduction in documentation for care and nursing staff. Utilising the software has also provided an ease of access to information which was not easily accessible while on paper.

“Our staff have been delighted with the efficiencies the software has created”, stated Dean. “The market is very familiar with the Clinical Manager and Medication Management solutions, and we have found that most prospective employees now expect providers to utilise an electronic care system. Using Telstra Health’s software has resulted in staff spending less time on documentation and more time delivering person-centred care.”

Support every step of the way

Implementing a new software system can be overwhelming, which is why the process is broken down into manageable steps by Telstra Health’s Implementation Consultants.“Weekly meetings and conference calls were organised to help us tackle the change management process and celebrate achievements along the way. Our organisation has also had a great experience with the Residential Support team, who have been there to help us whenever our team has questions,” Dean explained.

The power to scale

Mayflower is in the process of expanding their operations by redeveloping an existing 38 bed site into a larger, 110 bed facility. As a result, utilising a flexible software solution that would adapt as the organisation scales was essential.

“The beauty of using Clinical Manager and Medication Management is that we will be able to roll out the same software and policies we already have established to the redeveloped facility; it’s merely a case of staff training,” Dean explained. “In that way, Telstra Health’s software can work successfully whether you operate 100 beds or 1000.”

Overall benefits revealed

Overall, Telstra Health’s Clinical Manager and Medication Management solutions have provided the care and nursing staff at Mayflower with more time to deliver care. The software has also enabled Mayflower to become more agile with the use of dynamically linked care tools.

“Now when the care needs of a resident changes, our staff can update their Assessment Forms with the knowledge that this information will flow through to their Care Plan”, stated Dean.

Mayflower’s management team have also benefited from an increased ease of auditing and data management, with Dean explaining, “When our organisation managed clinical data on paper, reports could involve sorting through 188 hard copy files. Now with electronic visibility across all residents, this process can be done in a matter of minutes.”

In order for Mayflower to run their business successfully, finding a software system that was highly configurable was essential.

“Clinical Manager and Medication Management allowed our organisation to configure Assessment Forms to suit our care delivery. As a result, our clinical and medication management processes have gone from strength to strength,” stated Dean.