Care Together at BCCM Leaders’ Summit

Co-op and mutual leaders participated in Better care in the bush – how co-ops and mutuals are shaping the future of care in remote, regional and rural communitiesLeaders’ Dialogue, a deep-dive discussion with industry case studies at the BCCM Leaders’ Summit.

Panel facilitator, Care Together Program Manager Michael Pilbrow, shared that “the Better Care for the Bush panel session was energising as it highlighted how many good people are aware of the challenge of providing care in regional, rural and remote communities and – more importantly – are motivated to be innovative in using the co-op model to find solutions”.

The panellists included Dr Alison Koschel, Executive Manager Population Access and Performance Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network, Wendy Pederick, Convenor, Co-operative Care Wagin, Gillian McFee, Program Director Care Together, Clive Thompson, Director CoSolve, Liz O’Connell, CEO Kudos Services, Prue Bowden, CEO—Home Health, Australian Unity and Dr Paul Thambar, Director Mutual Value Lab Monash University.

Care Together is the BCCM’s program to help Australian communities in regional, rural, and remote areas to explore novel co-op and mutual approaches to address failures in the delivery of care. Care Together is funded through a $7 million grant from the Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care, to work with local groups of care workers, care recipients and care organisations on solutions in all areas of care, from aged and disability care to Indigenous, veterans and primary healthcare. This roundtable discussed the benefits of co-ops and mutuals delivering care and how Care Together is working with different BCCM members on care projects.

As part of the BCCM Leader’s Summit, Care Together’s Michael Pilbrow visited the Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-operative’s Welshpool Export Facility with a group of co-operative leaders from around Australia and the UK.

The visit was a wonderful way to end an inspiring Summit that connected co-operatives working across social care, housing, agriculture, banking and so much more. Everyone is looking forward to 2025 as the UN International Year of Cooperatives.