Inclusive governance

• Our new inclusive governance model is designed to ensure the voices of each of our clients are heard at every level of the organisation, from the Board through to senior management, through to middle management and the frontline.
• We have established a Client Rights and Safeguarding Committee, which has responsibility for incorporating client voice and client rights into practice and decision making. This advisory committee currently comprises Board members and family members.
• Sunnyfield is working with the Centre for Intellectual Disability to put in place the supports required for our clients to also participate, including as members of the Board, within the next 6 months.
• Our Board members, CEO and senior leadership team visit our services to meet with our clients, their families and our staff. These visits provide opportunities for feedback on what we’re doing well and how we can improve.

Client Safeguarding, Complaint Handling and Quality assurance

• Sunnyfield created a new role of General Manager Quality, Risk and Compliance. Work completed to date includes improvements to complaints, incident management and client safeguarding practices and reporting.
• We implemented changes to our incident management system, implemented a new Complaints Management system, and improved our complaints procedures.
• There are multiple options for clients, families, staff and external parties to raise concerns, anonymously if required including an external whistleblowing service.
• Sunnyfield has a dedicated Client Safeguarding Team, independent from service delivery, which is responsible for investigating allegations of abuse, assault, neglect or exploitation, conducting reportable incident training, NDIS incident reporting and restrictive practices.
• The Client Safeguarding Manager and the Response Team investigators are experienced investigators, and both Response Team investigators are former police officers with investigations experience.
• Sunnyfield has a dedicated quality assurance team that performs regular service audits and works with service managers to identify improvements to processes.
• Our new systems ensure there is line of sight of complaints from frontline supervision to the Board.

Workforce

• Sunnyfield promotes a learning and development culture that includes studying best practice to identify further improvements.
• We have comprehensive recruitment practices and controls to ensure the people who support our clients have the right values, skills and qualifications to support decision making, dignity of risk and keep clients safe.
• Training for our Board and Senior Leadership Team includes an external Client Rights and Safeguarding course and trauma informed training.
• We have expanded and enhanced our training for frontline staff and managers including human rights and trauma-informed training, and enhanced our monitoring to increase our capability to prevent and respond to any form of abuse, assault, neglect, exploitation, or discrimination.

To learn more how we implement the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework policies see https://www.sunnyfield.org.au/about/quality-management/sunnyfield-policies/