It’s been a busy couple of months for the team working to bring our ground-breaking model of continence care to life, as we work with our partners participating in the pilot program.

During this time, the value of having a detailed and comprehensive testing stage for such a unique project has really been confirmed to us. We’re currently evaluating feedback and designing further development of the project, but the initial feedback has been invaluable. We want to thank everyone for the time and consideration they are giving to help us co-design a program that will make a real difference to the way continence care is delivered in residential aged care facilities.

This will be the way we will continue to work, to listen, learn and adapt, as necessary.

What’s in a name?

Shakespeare may have famously quipped this question, but when it comes to the provision of health care, the answer is quite a lot.

It’s not hyperbole to say that this project has the capacity to change lives – so it’s important that when it goes live, we have as many residential aged care providers get on board as possible, and that the professionals considering undertaking the training and using the resources understand exactly what the program is and why they should use it.

For most people, the first interaction with the project will be the moment they see its name. We have consulted a number of people across the sector including people with lived experience. We’ve also been working with a communications company to design a new name that is instantly reflective of the intent of the program; that intuitively tells them this is something they need to consider. Not an easy task, but our communications partner is onto it, and we hope to be able to share that not too far away.

Season’s greetings

Finally, from all the team, we’d like to wish you all a happy, safe, and peaceful festive season. Your support over the past year has been incredible. It continues to drive us to create this fantastic program, and your work in helping us co-design it makes you a true partner.

We’re taking a short break over the New Year, but we will be back in early January, continuing to build the project ready for the launch, and as always, we’ll keep you posted every step of the way. You can also follow the timeline of activities on Your Voice.

We appreciate your involvement and look forward to keeping you informed as we keep moving forward with this critically important work.