Acknowledging the achievements of a successful year, while recognising the value of the people we care for and those who care for them, provides a strong foundation for looking to the future.

It was my privilege to become CEO in the final weeks of FY24, and so this report is an opportunity to celebrate the work of our amazing team – including the Board, Association, Leadership Team, our frontline and enabling teams, volunteers and supporters.

But I’ll also finish by commenting on where I think we’re heading in the coming year!

Let me first pay tribute to previous CEO Mike Baird AO, who led HammondCare through the toughest years of COVID-19 and its aftermath – laying a positive platform, despite the challenges, that as a team we are excited to build on.

I would also like to thank Board Chair Kok Kong Chan, Deputy Chair Kate Thomas and their fellow Directors for so diligently stewarding our Mission during this time of change, and for giving me this treasured opportunity to support our team to serve those in need.

Strength, expertise, compassion and composure

As I have reviewed the past financial year, these words readily come to mind – strength, expertise, compassion and composure. Despite the financial, reform and workforce headwinds our sector has experienced, HammondCare has turned the corner after two years of financial deficit, to move with strength into surplus.

This means, as an independent Christian charity, we continue to have a strong financial base on which to grow and improve across our services. I know many sacrifices and much hard work at all levels is behind this positive outcome, for which I’m very grateful. Some of our key indicators such as residential occupancy, attrition rates, care minutes and quality ratings have improved, ensuring we are strongly positioned for the future –  for the benefit of those who need our help.

Alongside this, our expertise, skill and professionalism are constantly on display – something I’ve seen again and again with my own eyes. But we need to keep moving forward, which is why our emphasis on strategy, training, education and research continues as we seek to lead the way towards better care. All of this is done through a deep alignment with the core values of our Mission. 

As someone new to HammondCare, I can say with confidence that the same compassion Jesus showed in his words, actions and sacrificial love, are evident daily in the HammondCare team, regardless of the role. 

I’ve rarely seen anything like this in an organisation, and count it a privilege to now be part of it. It might be possible, when an organisation is doing so many things well, and conditions are improving, to become complacent. But that’s not a word that is relevant here. Instead, what  I see is composure.

To be composed means to be calm, poised and assured even when pressure comes – which is just about every day when you are caring for vulnerable people with very complex needs. It’s a hard fought composure from a team that has not lost its way despite the once in a lifetime difficulties of recent years. It is composure founded in faith, learned over more than 90 years of experience and ready for what comes next.

Some key achievements

It’s why in FY24 there were many important achievements, including the successful opening of our first dementia care home in Adelaide, SA – HammondCare Daw Park. Alongside this, we received approval in principle for key projects at Greenwich and Wahroonga, with planning continuing. And we opened a new home care headquarters in the main street of Lismore, providing significant encouragement to the local community as it continues to recover from record flooding.

A major achievement, which is ongoing, is the progress in our technological and security infrastructure. A new digital care management system has been rolled out across our residential care and major projects continue for home care and to support our people. There’ll be even more to report next year.

Programs such as Last Days (Palliative Care) and Staying at Home (Dementia Support Australia) have spread around the nation while our expertise in small household models of dementia care have been shared through design schools, incorporated into national aged care guidelines and strengthened through our partnership with Belong in the UK and Green House in the USA. I also count as a great achievement how many of the people we serve are willing to recommend us to family and friends (NPS Score +62).

Where to from here

From my first day as CEO,  my priority has been to meet our frontline care teams, managers and the people we care for, while at the same time, lead in the development of our new  Next Chapter Strategy. 

The two go hand in hand because our strategy is all about creating more and more opportunities for magical moments of care between our care teams and the increasing numbers of people who need our support.

Andrew tours Neringah Hospital with General Managers Angela and Felicity, joined by team members Breda, Yui, Arnold and Allison

I believe we will further extend our leadership in delivering complex care nationally, through greater integration and innovation. This will see us evolving some areas, reinventing others and pioneering into new frontiers. To do this we will further empower and upskill our valued care workforce, continue to develop capable leaders and advance our technology capability. Exciting times ahead!

Warm regards,

Andrew Thorburn
CEO