CEO Update 25 March

As you are aware, Kerri Rolfe has been providing terrific leadership as Acting GM Day Services whilst Natarsha Warren is away on maternity leave. We anticipate Natarsha’s return later in the year. Meantime however, for health related reasons Kerri needs to cut back her hours for a while and regrettably needs to move away from her present role. I know you will want to join me in thanking Kerri for her stewardship and focus over the last 9 months and look forward to her continuing to contribute to the life of Bayley House and the benefit of our clients in different ways in coming months.

Many of you will remember longstanding Bayley House staff member Penny Scott. Penny filled many different roles at Bayley House over almost two decades prior to taking up a role at Melba Support Services in 2019. I am delighted to announce that, following experience at both Melba and Scope in recent months, Penny will return to the Bayley House family commencing Tuesday March 29^th 2022. Penny will fill in as GM Day Services for the remainder of Natarsha’s maternity leave before moving into the Home & Living space to support Andy Gabriel in this growing area. I am thrilled to have Penny back with us, knowing very well her client focus and outcomes driven agenda.  Please make her welcome.

Transport Transition

Whilst on the topic of Day Service, the transition of the Bayley House Transport Service is progressing well and will be complete by the end of March. My thanks to all families impacted by this change for your patience as we work through the complexities of the changes to this much valued and favoured service. It is inevitable that such a complex transition will encounter some bumps along the way and I very much appreciate the good humour and positivity with which everyone has approached this development.

Day Service is a busy place! In particular, Middle Crescent is a very busy location with more than a hundred clients and staff attending each day. Day service program hours are 9.00-3.00 with a 15 minute window either side of that. Difficult as it can be, please ensure that loved ones are dropped off and picked up between those times; it is very difficult for Bayley House to provide appropriate levels of support and safety outside of those time. Your assistance is very much appreciated.

COVID Update

COVID continues to impact everything we do. Whilst it is exciting to see many activities and services returning in some form or other, these freedoms are tempered by the need to retain (or even at times reintroduce) some levels of protection. Please be aware that Bayley House implements all Government requirements but from time to time we also implement additional measures which we believe necessary and appropriate. Our COVID response is directed by our COVID Plan and managed by the Bayley House leadership team, regularly advised by the Quality Committee. I would appreciate it if you do not challenge particular protocols with staff members who are doing their best to implement requirements in a constantly changing environment.  If you have queries regarding specific measures please direct them to a member of the management team.

In Home Support

Our new In Home Support Service has been very well received. We commenced with the intention of trialling our service with up to 10 families and this is already the case. Sector wide staff shortages are impacting our capacity to move ahead with the speed which we would like but we are enthusiastic about this new offering and will continue to liaise with families who have expressed interest.

Short Stay Accommodation

Short Stay is back! Following the impact which COVID had on bookings we are very pleased that we have been busy taking calls from families for Short Stay time. Lonsdale Street has received a big makeover and now looks like some fancy AirBNB! If you haven’t had a look at it check it out and if you are considering booking some time in Short Stay my advice is….get on with it now!

Respect

And finally a word about respect. At Bayley House we value respectful relationships…at every level and every interaction. We often think of ourselves as a big family and as such we understand that there will be differences of opinions about various issues, that at times people are under considerable stress, and there will be times of course where in fact we just….get it wrong. We are not perfect. Clients, families, staff, volunteers, contractors; everyone deserves to be treated respectfully. If you believe that you have been treated disrespectfully by one of the Bayley House team please let us know. Equally, if you treat one of my team disrespectfully, I will be needing to have a discussion with you to ensure that it does not happen again. Different opinions are not just a reality but are in fact a positive; we learn from a diversity of perspectives. But views need to be expressed in a respectful manner which acknowledges that we are all trying to do the right thing and that we are all people with rights which deserve to be acknowledged and respected. That is how we grow. That is how we learn. Let’s all work on that together.

Take care and stay safe…