‘Gold’ again for SummitCare

SummitCare again won an Excellence Award, and follows the Gold Award it achieved in 2012 and the Silver in 2009.

The award was presented at the Australian Organisational Excellence Foundation’s Awards Presentation Dinner at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium on last Thursday. Managed by the Australian Organisational Excellence Foundation, the awards recognise organisations committed to utilising business excellence principles.

No other Australian aged care provider has reportedly achieved three awards at this level, however, SummitCare chief executive, Cynthia Payne, says it's not an award that comes 'easily'.

“It has required SummitCare to successfully apply the Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) and commit itself to daily excellence throughout our business and management systems. Not only have we achieved this, but we have sustained our excellence strategies during a time of unprecedented government reform in Australian aged care,” Ms Payne says.

She says in the past year SummitCare had also undergone significant change, repositioning its branding and launching a major new in home care service, SummitCare HomeCare.

Each of SummitCare’s 1000 plus team members have embraced the opportunity to continuously improve the organisation, ensuring support for its customers and their families is always at the top of the agenda.

“The fact that we have received such an accolade during such a time of change demonstrates SummitCare’s strengths: that our team is highly skilled, capable and able to quickly adapt as required,” she says.

Achieving the Excellence Award saw SummitCare’s residential centres, business processes and organisational approach thoroughly scrutinised by assessors.

“We would not have met the high standards they expected had it not been for the professionalism we have in all parts of our organisation, driven by our values of warmth, worth and wellbeing,” she says.

The ABEF forms part of a global community of 80 excellence awards programs, including the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence in the US, the EFQM Excellence Model in Europe and the Singapore Quality Award. SummitCare also reportedly remains one of the first aged care providers in the world to achieve recognition at this level.

“Our award achievements put us in the company of some very prominent international organisations across many sectors.

“We are proud to help put Australian aged care on the global stage. Our sector is set to be one of the most important in coming years, and SummitCare is well positioned to continue its leadership role.”

For more information on the Australian Organisational Excellence Foundation, see www.aoef.org.au.