Chair and CEO Report 2024
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Welcome to BaptistCare’s 2024 Annual Report
We are pleased to share with you the highlights of our year.
With hard work, passion, and a heart for others, 80 years ago BaptistCare began creating places of hope for those most vulnerable in our communities, and today our mission remains the same.
In the 1940s post-war Australia, a group of Baptists in NSW began responding to social change as the Baptist Homes Trust. A kindred ministry – Baptist Homes Board – was established on the West Coast in the early 1970s in response to the need for suitable accommodation and nursing care for the elderly. People remain our passion and priority as we seek to transform lives by expressing the love of Christ.
In our 80th year, the organisation bears witness to the tapestry of past and present people whose heart for serving others makes us who we are.
This year, we have spent considerable time and energy integrating our WA and NSW & ACT organisations into one. This has included how we deliver our services, and the systems and processes that enable services and care to be delivered.
We have seen some wonderful outcomes as we progress to become stronger as one organisation. This includes establishing a new home care office in Busselton to meet the growing needs of older people in the broader region, and progressing important remediation works at key sites in WA to ensure accommodation and facilities meet residents’ needs.
To enable strong engagement with current and potential customers in all states, we have successfully merged our Contact Centres and teams, as well as our websites and social media presence.
We are indebted to our Support Services and frontline teams who have worked together tirelessly with a “can do” attitude through complex changes to ensure we are well positioned as we look to the future.
The aged care sector is on the cusp of transformational change. BaptistCare is optimistic that current and future reforms will ensure high-quality and sustainable care for Australia’s ageing population.
We have already seen a positive impact flowing from the new Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model, and we are closely following the progression of the new Aged Care Act and the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce. We have partnered with our peak bodies to advocate for older people who will access care and services, and our valued employees who will deliver this care.
We have been pleased to see many of our employees recognised for the incredible work they do with the completion of the Fair Work Commission’s Aged Care Value Case this year. For those employees for whom no increase was awarded, BaptistCare took additional steps to provide wage increases in recognition of employees’ contributions, regardless of the job they do in our aged care services.
Our Residential Services teams have continued to navigate the impacts of COVID-19, while strengthening our approaches to palliative care, dementia care, lifestyle and food experiences. On the NSW Central Coast, BaptistCare Orana Centre was selected to participate in the Maggie Beer Foundation Mentor Trainer program. Over the next year, Orana’s kitchen teams will collaborate with Maggie Beer’s accredited dietitians and nutritionists to enhance residents’ dining experience, while receiving tailored guidance, professional development and experimenting with innovative initiatives to enrich residents’ sense of purpose and connection.
In May 2024, our redeveloped Caloola Centre in Wagga Wagga, NSW, welcomed its first residents. The new home is divided into five households of 16 contemporary single-resident rooms with private bathrooms (80 in total). Each household has its own family room, dining room, kitchen and multiple breakout spaces. The home also features a new café, extensive gardens, walkways and undercover outside areas for residents to enjoy.
The BaptistCare at home team is successfully growing its operating and physical presence to meet the growing demand for older people to access care in their own home. New hubs were set up in Busselton, WA in March 2023, and across NSW in Orange during September 2023, Ballina in November 2023 and Wauchope in February 2024.
Our strategic vision and desire to see ‘every individual living well’ also saw a successful home care acquisition completed in June 2024, comprising 70 new employees, 40 volunteers and around 1000 home care clients from Presbyterian Aged Care in NSW.
As we invest in our retirement communities, we have seen strong interest in the expansion of our villages in Wagga Wagga, NSW (The Grange) and Elderslie, southwest Sydney (Angus Bristow Village). Both developments have been supported by a successful sales program, seeing early stages receiving close to 100% deposits before completion.
Our Community Services teams working across HopeStreet locations have continued to see the distressing impact of the housing crisis, interest rate increases and cost of living challenges, changing how individuals and families can get by, day by day.
Collaborating with the local community and our partners has resulted in positive opportunities this year, including at HopeStreet Port Kembla where we unveiled a locally designed mural on our building, commissioned in collaboration with the Illawarra Wingecarribee Alliance Aboriginal Corporation (IWAAC) and created by local artist Jahynah Wiwerana-Donaczy.
We held a grassroots advocacy event focused on the lack of access to safe, reliable or accessible public transport in the suburbs of postcode 2770, located in Western Sydney, NSW. The 2770 community, a vibrant and diverse community faced with complex social and economic challenges, shared their personal experiences as we called for changes to transport that will ultimately improve employment, education, health and housing opportunities.
Our annual Halo Ball saw 530 guests come together in Sydney, collectively donating $410,000, with vital funds supporting our domestic and family violence services supporting women and children.
In the Community Housing space, we officially opened the last of 500 Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF) homes we are delivering in partnership with the NSW Government. With the Hon Rose Jackson MP, Minister for Housing joining us, we welcomed tenants to their new home, Gimbawali Place, in Carlingford, NSW, during July 2023.
In June 2024, the NSW State Government announced that BaptistCare had been elevated to a Tier 1 Community Housing Provider (CHP). This recognition of our experience, maturity and stability as a trusted housing provider under the National Regulatory System for Community Housing (NRSCH) gives us confidence as we await further opportunities to deliver much-needed social and affordable housing through Federal and State programs and funding instruments.
Looking to enhance our understanding of innovative aged care systems and the advanced social housing approach in Europe, members of our Board and Executive travelled to the United Kingdom and France in May.
The study tour allowed our team to see how these two countries are approaching models of housing, community development and aged care, and was a profound experience, broadening our perspectives and understanding. We published a report sharing our insights and the opportunities we see ahead for Australia in providing quality care and services that are deeply connected to the people and communities they will serve. You can read the report here
We continue to enhance our Environmental, Social and Governance agenda. In November 2023 we signed a 10-year industry-leading Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), allowing BaptistCare to reduce the carbon footprint of our NSW and ACT operations by 70% (off a 2022 baseline of scope 1 and 2 emissions).
We will purchase around 15,000 megawatt hours each year from state-of-the-art solar and wind farms in NSW from 2025, enabling BaptistCare to deliver care for Australians in a more environmentally sustainable way.
BaptistCare’s financial health and position finished comfortably this year, and we are blessed to have a positive outlook ahead.
Our financial year results include the full year operations of the acquisitions and merger with WA that took place in the last quarter of last financial year.
It is pleasing to report a surplus of $33M, which is partly attributed to recognising one-off inclusions of COVID-19 grants and a change in our accounting treatment of our Retirement Village portfolio as investment properties, impacting revenue and depreciation. This impact is detailed further in our Financial Report.
We continue to be cognisant of the need for sustainable and future-focused reform and funding, led by the Federal Government, so that together aged care providers can support Australia’s ageing population and other people and communities experiencing vulnerability.
We welcomed Dr Joan O’Donnell and prior WA Directors Tim Woodall and Graham Reed onto the BaptistCare Board in November 2023. We also farewelled Craig Collins, who had served on the Board since 2012. We appreciate the wisdom and guidance of all Directors who serve on our Board and thank them for their role in navigating the complex and challenging environments in which we operate.
To all our dedicated employees, volunteers, partners, and supporters, we extend our deepest gratitude for the unwavering commitment, heartfelt compassion, and exceptional skills you contribute daily.
Throughout this year, amidst significant transformations and hurdles, we have celebrated remarkable accomplishments, keeping people at the centre of all we do.
We extend our deepest gratitude to God for the bravery, resolve, and insight granted to us on this path, which we will continue to rely upon moving forward.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” – Hebrews 13:15-16
| Robert Dunn Chair | Charles Moore Chief Executive Officer |