Mutual Care

A Care Together Project

Mutual Care 

What market failure is being addressed?

Australians living in remote, rural and regional areas often lack access to the same services and levels of care available to those living in capital cities and major regional centres. Among the biggest challenges for those operating in aged care and disability service provision are distance and a lack of resources to address the myriad regulatory and administrative responsibilities. Without these resources, many services are deemed to be unsustainable, often leaving residents with few options but to travel hundreds of kilometres to find the care they need.

What is the Mutual Care seeking to achieve?

Mutual Care has evolved from the Care Together program’s Shared Services Project, and the team is now working toward formally establishing the mutual enterprise over the next 12 months.

Mutual Care will deliver shared services to care co-operatives and community-led providers. The aim is to reduce operational pressures on individual organisations and strengthen local capacity to deliver quality, affordable care. The proposed services include:

• Compliance and regulatory support, including assistance with registration and ongoing regulatory requirements
• Human resources support, such as recruitment, onboarding and workforce management
• Additional shared services (identified for future development) across training, finance, quality, administration and back-office functions

By centralising these supports, Mutual Care would help reduce costs, improve efficiency, and ensure that local care organisations can focus on what matters most: delivering services that meet community needs. It will also help retain and grow the care workforce in thin markets, improving service continuity and building long-term resilience.

How has the model been shaped?

In November 2024, the Care Together team hosted a Shared Services Workshop in Canberra with sector leaders and expert guests David Hammer and Katrina Kazda from the US-based Elevate Cooperative. Participants from across remote, rural and regional Australia explored shared services co-operatives in both the US and Australia and examined the challenges of delivering care in thin markets. Through two and a half days of discussion, participants reached clear consensus:

• Compliance and regulatory support
• Human resources services

…should form the initial core services of a shared services co-operative (or mutual), with eight additional service areas recommended for staged development.

The vision

A future where every community in Australia – large or small – can access the care services they need, supported by strong, community-owned care providers with the systems, skills and workforce required to thrive. Mutual Care is now being developed based on these workshop outcomes and sector insights. This model has the potential to transform care delivery across Australia’s remote, rural and regional communities by ensuring that local, community-led organisations have the shared support they need to succeed.

Quotes

“From the work we have done with communities, there is a vision that some form of shared services is actually essential to maintain the viability of care services in remote, rural and regional Australia.

“This project offers huge potential for delivery of services in communities that are often deeply disadvantaged by factors such as distance and difficulties in attracting, training and retaining staff.

“From the discussions we’ve had and the workshop, it’s become clear that the two areas where care services in remote areas most need assistance is workforce recruitment and regulatory compliance.

“We are very excited about the potential offered by this mutual enterprise and its ability to be replicated geographically and across other sectors,” Gillian McFee, Program Director, Care Together