Once again the centrepiece of the IHHC National Conference gala dinner was the presentation of our National Awards for Excellence across six categories.

All state winners competed against each other to win the national title for each award category and all National Award winners received $500 prize money. All National Award winners (with the exception of the Leadership in Advocacy Award, as its winner is drawn from outside healthcare providers) were also nominated for our highest honour, the Rosemary Anne Pirie OAM Award.

This year’s National Winners are:

Linda James, Catering Services Manager - Alwyndor Aged Care SA

Given for customer service, the Values in Action Award exemplifies leading by example and demonstrating IHHC values to create a positive workplace culture that supports people to lead and deliver excellent patient-centred care and high quality services, through encouraging a culture of partnership and collaboration.

National Winner for 2024 was Linda James of Alwyndor Aged Care. Linda has been at Alwyndor for the past two years and prior to her appointment the kitchen had been run by contractors – moving to inhouse staff when she came on board.

“I had to do a lot of work on the functionality side,” Linda recalls. “I revised the menus extensively and the residents are now very happy with the results.”

Linda has grown into a strong and confident leader who has made an incredible difference to the catering department and the lives of residents. She is dedicated to customer service and her passion and energy have led to a great improvement in kitchen operations, with a recent resident survey reporting 100 per cent satisfaction in meals being served.

Linda embraces theme days where she works closely with the wellbeing team to ensure the catering component is perfect and the days are a great success.

She has also helped her team members grow personally and professionally through constantly reinforcing their positive attributes. She recognises the importance of ongoing learning and encourages staff to further their knowledge and improve skills through internal and external training, and is continually seeking to implement best practices to enhance operations and improve the staff and resident experience.

“With my team in the kitchen, I have a fantastic support network behind me and I also have great management above me, so I’m very lucky,” Linda says.

After winning the Values in Action Award earlier in the evening, Linda returned to the stage to receive our highest honour, the Rosemary Anne Pirie OAM Award, proudly presented by award sponsor Rodger Graf of Nutritious Cuisine, seen above with Linda.

Remar Cipriano, Head Chef - RSL Care SA

The Brightest Star Award is given to an up and coming worker for the potential they have displayed in blossoming over the past 12 months while providing care to patients, residents and clients; someone who goes over and above the call of duty.

Remar Cipriano is one of our industry’s quiet achievers – a chef who came to aged care from cooking in a pub restaurant and during the last year has not only tackled the challenges of adapting his cooking to his new customer base but also setting up a new facility and catering team. His efforts have laid the foundation for a thriving catering operation.

Remar’s success is due in part to possessing a distinctive blend of culinary skills, empathy and understanding of the nutritional needs and preference of residents. He has learnt how to create delicious, nutritious meals that cater to their dietary requirements, spending many hours designing menus that are balanced, varied and appealing. He has expanded his repertoire of recipes and cooking methods, with particular regard to texture modified food, allowing him to offer a more diverse range.

Remar’s journey over the past 12 months has been characterised by his commitment not only to learning but being innovative and showing compassion, ultimately enhancing the quality of life for residents through delicious, nutritious meals served with warmth and respect. He has expanded his repertoire of recipes and cooking methods, with particular regard to texture modified food, allowing him to offer greater variety.

“It was a big leap for me from cooking in a restaurant – but it’s also very rewarding to know the residents love my food,” Remar says. “I feel like every day I’m coming to work to help make their everyday lives a bit easier. It was a great pleasure to win the Award.”

Harry Shen, Senior Head Chef - St Vincent’s Care VIC

The Leadership Award is given to someone who displays leadership through a spirit of collaboration, trust and recognition, identifying strengths and empowering others to maximise their potential, fostering excellence in organisational performance, productivity and/or client service.

Our 2024 National Winner Harry Shen is a visionary leader who sets ambitious yet achievable goals that align with the overall mission and values of his team and organisation. He motivates and inspires team members to work towards a common goal, fostering unity and purpose.

Harry actively listens to his team and ensures their ideas and feedback are welcomed and respected. By creating an open and honest communication environment, he builds strong relationships, gaining trust and loyalty. Harry also leads by example: he sets high standards for himself and holds himself accountable for his actions and decisions. His work ethic and dedication inspire his team members to follow suit, creating a culture and excellence and professionalism.

Harry believes in the potential of his team members and provides them with opportunities to showcase their skills and talents. He also demonstrates adaptability and resilience as a leader, remaining calm and solution-oriented in the face of challenges and inspiring his team members to do the same. He understands that leaderships is about navigating past obstacles with determination, and he encourages his team members to embrace change and find innovative solutions.

Harry says: “I think these Awards are not just about personal achievement, they also shine a light on what we are doing in aged care – how we are dedicated to delivering care and love for our residents, not just at St Vincent’s Care but across the industry.”

‘The Dining Experience’, Catholic Homes WA

The Project of the Year Award is given to projects which demonstrate the ability to respond positively to change and develop effective solutions while working across boundaries, while actively encouraging bold thinking to embrace new ideas and deliver improved performance and health outcomes.

Accepting the award for 2024 was Catholic Homes WA Hotel Services Manager Damiano Montagnese, who explained the impetus for its ‘Dining Experience’ project was to get residents more involved not only in the choice of what they wanted to eat but the way in which their meals were served.

“When residents are involved in creation of the menus and can put forward their opinions, they’re more likely to consume the food that’s served to them,” Damiano points out.

“It’s about creating a better dining experience and making sure they feel like they’re in their own home – because at the end of the day, the residential aged care facility is their home, and we want them to feel at home here.

“We realised that to do that we needed to involve every person from the facility manager to the chefs, carers, kitchenhands and cleaners – we wanted the staff to know how the residents feel when they sit down to eat. So we undertook some role plays with staff where some were given food or snacks without being asked whether they wanted it or whether they might have a food allergy, to show how you can impact the residents if you don’t give them the agency of choice.

“We ended up having residents joining in the training as well, which provided valuable feedback on what the dining experience needed to be. Our approach is all about asking how we can give the residents the freedom to choose, and how we can support them to be independent in everything they want to do, and the dining experience needs to be in line with this.”

After planning the menus, redefining the standards for the table settings and in-room dining and undertaking the training sessions, the residents are now more involved, eat more and they contribute more. “Everyone pulled together,” Damiano says, “especially my team and Stephanie Ellwood who worked closely with me on the project.”

Food Waste Management System, Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) Food Service Department

The Sustainability Award recognises facilities or individuals who have implemented or continuously improved and expanded support-service waste reduction programs on the path to sustainability.

This year it was won by Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) Food Service Department for their Food Waste Management System.

QCH developed, tested and then implemented its new waste management workflow across all its wards over a six month period from 2022. This resulted in responsible management of more than 22,000kg of organic food waste annually, an increase in organic food waste capture and management from 20 per cent up to 85 per cent daily, and an average of 580kg non-perishable food items being donated annually to OzHarvest (equating to 1,120 meals).

The project result and the broader sustainability program was presented at the International Cleaning and Hygiene Exhibition in Amsterdam in April, and the results also contributed to CHQ’s successful nomination in the Queensland Health Clinical Excellence Advance Sustainability Award 2023, finalist placing in the Premiers Award 2023, and win of the Brisbane Lord Mayor WasteSmart Award 2023.

“It’s great to be acknowledged by this Award,” says Ryan Carmichael of the QCH Food Service Department. “The department provides around 1000 meals a day and the changes and efforts we’ve made are going a long way to making sure we’ve having a positive environmental impact.”

Nutrition Professionals Australia

The IHHC Advocacy Award is open to IHHC Supporters, companies and consultants who work with healthcare providers to advocate for innovation and service improvement for the benefit of their clients.

For 2024 it was won by Nutrition Professionals Australia (NPA), a national team of dietitians who provide a range of services to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes of older Australians, including clinical and nutritional advice, education and training to staff, as well as menu and mealtime assessments to meet the new Standard 6. The group also provides advice and training around menu development.

NPA is highly regarded for its responsiveness, reliability and dedication to customer service. Its menu assessment service is designed to provide aged care providers with the information they need to identify areas for improvement in nutritional care of their residents and enhance their dining experience. This information can be used to better manage staff training and education on nutritional-related topics, resulting in staff being better equipped to manage residents’ dietary requirements.

Director Julie Dundon, accepting the Award, said, “We’re absolutely thrilled to win – I’ve been working in residential aged care for over 30 years, and I’ve had a number of advocacy roles in the area of aged care nutrition, so it’s great for NPA have this recognition for our work.

“We are a committed team who understand that if to get aged care nutrition right, you need to get aged care foodservice right. We work very closely with foodservice staff because we take a ‘food first’ approach – once we get that right, then we have residents who enjoy their meals and have their nutritional needs met.”