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From our Program Director: Innovation unfolding as milestones reached in the Care Together program
Welcome to the March 2025 edition of the Care Together newsletter.
Over the past two and a half years, we’ve worked alongside regional, remote and rural communities to co-design and implement co-operative solutions for sustainable care and support, with a focus on regional, rural and remote Australia. Today, we’re excited to share key milestones in this journey.
Care Together has reached an exciting stage, with our first project, Co-operative Care Wagin, officially registered. This new community-owned co-op in Western Australia will help residents access essential care and support services and stay in their homes.
Meanwhile, the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Network, which is forming a co-operative to support small, aged care providers, mostly in residential care, easing compliance, recruitment and financial challenges while keeping care local, has been interviewed by ABC Radio.
Our latest Community of Practice session explored the Shared Services project and provided updates on all nine place-based projects. Watch on demand to see how co-operatives are driving change in how care and support services are being re-shaped in regional communities.
A group of older Australians participated in a co-design workshop recently in Adelaide to explore what needs to change for older Australians to have a meaningful role in self-managing their Support at Home packages under new rights-based legislation commencing from 1 July this year. This workshop was an important contribution to the Care Together project being sponsored by COTA Australia.
This is an exciting phase for Care Together, with communities taking ownership of care and support solutions that work for them. Thank you for being part of this journey – we look forward to shaping the future of care together!
In January 2025, Co-operative Care Wagin became the first of Care Together’s nine projects to be officially registered as a co-operative. The new community-owned co-operative has been formed in the West Australian wheatbelt town of Wagin and is aimed at helping local residents stay in their homes by gaining better access to essential care services. Read about Wagin in the following media coverage:
This week, Karen Hodgson, Steering Committee Lead of the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Network, a Care Together Program project, spoke with ABC Riverina’s Eddie Williams about the challenges small aged care providers face – and how they’re tackling them together.
With nine aged care operators across the Murrumbidgee, Snowy Mountains and the Victorian border, these providers are forming a co-operative to ensure their survival. By sharing resources and support, they aim to ease the burden of compliance, recruitment and financial management – while keeping aged care local.
Karen’s message is clear: regional providers offer exceptional care, but they can’t do it alone. The co-operative model offers a game-changing solution for aged care sustainability – not just in this region but across Australia.
This image shows how forming a co-operative can support community owned and operated Aged Care Providers to focus on delivering quality placed based care to those that need it.
On February 11, Kudos Services welcomed Care Together representatives Peter Hunt and Nick Hislop for a comprehensive strategic workshop. Kudos team members participated in discussions focusing on the program’s purpose, challenges related to organisational growth, mutuality, Mutual Value, future partnerships and the need for a constitution review. The workshop also explored Kudos Services’ planned expansion into aged care delivery across regional South Australia through their new initiative, Kudos Health and Ageing. This expansion will enhance their service offering to include multidisciplinary allied health care and key worker supports for older adults.
COTA workshop
A groundbreaking workshop held on 11 February brought together older Australians from across the country, marking a significant step toward reimagining the management of aged care packages. Led by Gillian McFee, Peter Hunt and Nick Hislop, the exploratory session aimed to investigate consumer-led co-operatives as a means to empower older Australians with more choice and control over managing their Support at Home package. The workshop focused on assessing how this model could align with regulatory requirements and the practicalities of self-managing package funds through a co-operative structure. Key outcomes included clarifying the co-operative’s purpose, defining its practical functions, identifying gaps in service delivery, and outlining the skills needed for its operation. Additionally, the session explored the sustainability of the model and addressed potential barriers, offering solutions to overcome them.
Our February Social Care Community of Practice (CoP) provided insights into the progress of our Shared Services project and how it builds on extensive collaboration and research. Michael Pilbrow chaired the session, which provided firsthand experiences from experts in care and co-operative business models.
They discussed how shared services can address workforce shortages, regulatory challenges, and improve care access in regional Australia.
A special thank you to Fawn Burrows, David Fraser, Gillian McPhee and Peter Hunt, who brought invaluable experience from care co-ops, shared services models and international co-operative development.
Additionally, the CoP updated attendees on each of our nine place-based projects, highlighting the significant progress made across regional, rural and remote communities.
Our projects are raising awareness about co-operative legal and governance structures – a key challenge for care providers in many communities.
In the past six months, we’ve met and, in many cases, exceeded our program targets. A key milestone has been the successful registration of several co-operatives, a crucial step in establishing sustainable care models. More projects are in the pipeline, and while some are still in their early stages, others are showing strong potential for replication, further validating the co-operative approach to community-led care.
During the webinar, the Care Together Team’s Gillian McFee, Michael Pilbrow and Melina Morrison provided a detailed update on each of the nine projects, outlining their progress, challenges and the opportunities they are unlocking for care providers and communities.
