Better Practice Award for Benetas

Not for profit aged care provider, Benetas, has won a 2013 Better Practice Award for Innovation for its Pastoral Care Tool.

The award was presented to the Benetas Pastoral Care team by the Board chairman of the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency, Dr Andrew Refshauge, last week.

The Benetas Pastoral Care Tool is an online system that tracks, measures and reports on individual Pastoral Care Practitioner’s time, as well as the whole team’s time. To Benetas’ knowledge, the tool is the only one of a very small number of its kind operating in the aged care setting in Australia.

Sandra Hills, Benetas chief executive officer, said she was delighted that the tool had been recognised for excellence in innovation. She said the Pastoral Care Tool has provided evidence of the importance of pastoral care, which is often difficult to understand.

“The Benetas Pastoral Care team embraces the vision of respecting the whole person and all aspects of their life and wellbeing. Our Pastoral Care team work with our clients, families and staff to provide them with guidance and support at an often difficult time,” Ms Hills said.

The Pastoral Care tool enables Pastoral Care Practitioners to classify how they spend their time. Relationships with clients are the most important facet of the pastoral care team’s role, yet the practitioners are also involved in a lot of other valuable work, such as support to families and educating staff to bring a pastoral sensibility to their role.

“The tool helps the team to see and understand trends in our client’s needs, and has also helped others within the organisation to realise the value of the team,” Ms Hills said.

“We are honoured to be awarded with the Better Practice Award for Innovation. The tool allows us to ensure we are meeting the needs of our clients, families and staff. We are so pleased it has been recognised in this category,” she added.

The tool first started in 2008, and has been developed over time with the input of the pastoral care team and their colleagues.