Nick Heywood-Smith completed his Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy from the University of South Australia in November 1998

at the age of 21. Since completing his degree he has worked in a variety of health care settings around the world including five different countries. His work overseas has included working for the National Health Service (NHS) throughout Great Britain in both inpatient and outpatient settings; owning and operating a private massage and rehabilitation business in Kitzbuhel, Austria over two winter ski seasons; consultancy physiotherapy work in public and private facilities in Vancouver and Banff, Canada, and private physiotherapy services provided to Ed Homer, a double below knee amputee, during a summit attempt of Mt Everest in 2001 in Tibet. Following five years overseas, Nick and his wife Nikki started Wellness & Lifestyles Australia from the 2nd bedroom of a unit they were living in in Glenelg North. It began with a single physiotherapist (Nick) providing mobile allied health services to aged care facilities and a part-time marketing consultant (Nikki). It has now grown to a company with over 160 therapists and staff with the full scope of allied health services including physiotherapy, podiatry, speech pathology, occupational therapy, dietetics, and educational training. W&L is a market leader in the provision of mobile allied health services to facilities in throughout Australia and service over 13,000 aged care beds. Its current clients consist of aged care facilities, the intellectually and physically disabled, community health services, day therapy centres, home care package providers, public and regional hospitals and private clients in their homes. It is W&Ls vision to become the benchmark for aged care therapy services and education in Australia, supplying best in class services that surpass need. W&L is an accredited provider of allied health services to the Southern Adelaide Health Service, the Transition Care Program and Disability SA. They have been finalists in the Telstra Business Awards in 2008 and 2009, in InBusiness Magazines Fast Movers for 2007, 2008 and 2009 and recently achieved the BRWs Fastest 100 list for 2009. Nick was also awarded the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in the Young category for the central region, Australia. Nick sits on the Young Variety Group (Variety Childrens Charity) as a committee member and is passionate about helping people thru healthcare and education. Nicks interests include water and mountain sports, travel and his daughters Mia, Indie and Sage.

If your aged care dietitian is not providing services in this way, then contact W&L to make a booking on 8331 3000.

How Nick HeywoodSmith is helping the Aged Care Industry in Australia (Hot Tip 5)
If your Speech Pathologist is not alerting you as to when your residents are due for a review, then you may be at risk during accreditation! Most aged care facilities have difficulty accessing aged care speech pathologist to manage resident swallowing and communication problems as quick as the need arises, especially in a way that actually supports accreditation requirements. To manage dysphagia, improve communication and educate your care staff and family members on all issues with speech and swallowing in your elderly residents, you need your speech pathologist to: 1. Be mobile and come to you (even in rural areas). 2. Have aged care experience and understand your residents and accreditation needs. 3. Be timely and have the capacity to provide you with emergency visits to you residents. 4. Be user friendly and recommend a review date then

remind you so that you comply with accreditation. 5. Be comprehensive and have a documentation system that is designed specifically for aged care and maximising your ACFI. 6. Be cost effective and track your speech pathology usage and resident reviews, then recommend ways to reduce costs. 7. Be holistic and provide your residents with an interlinked service with dietetics to manage swallowing and nutrition issues. 8. Provide education through online and offline training to educate your care staff. If your aged care speech pathologist is not providing services in this way, then contact W&L to make a booking on 8331 3000.

How Nick HeywoodSmith is helping the Aged Care Industry in Australia (Hot Tip 6)
The education providers at your facility need to offer online training to also assist with inductions of new staff and staff that cannot attend the regular sessions!

If your aged care dietitian is not providing services in this way, then contact W&L to make a booking on 8331 3000.

Many aged care facilities have difficulty accessing aged care specific education that is accurate and specific to different levels and types of staff. Often facilities only have the capacity to send limited numbers of staff to off-site workshops and regularly find it difficult to get all staff to attend on-site training. This limits the ability for all staff to develop their aged care knowledge and skills. Any education provider that you use (either online or offline) needs to: 1. Have educational training that complies with Continuous Professional Development & CNE requirements for your nursing and allied health professions. 2. Provide Manual Handling training for people moving and materials. 3. Provide all the Mandatory Training required to work in Aged Care and Healthcare facilities in Australia. 4. Have information on many aged care conditions that can be accessed by the residents and their families. 5. Know how to safely and effectively care for the elderly. 6. Be able to educate staff on safe eating strategies and good nutrition.

7. Be able to teach residents how to rehabilitate themselves from operations and injuries. 8. Know how the Aged Care Funding Instrument can be utilized to maximize resident outcomes and facility funding. If your education provider is not able to cover all of these, or you are looking for a library of aged care specific training to educate your team, then please visit our website on www.wleducation.com.au or contact us on 8331 3000 to discuss face to face training.

How Nick HeywoodSmith is helping the Aged Care Industry in Australia (Hot Tip 7)
Your Physiotherapist should be managing and coordinating ACFI 12.3, 12.4a, 12.4b, 12.5 and 12.12 at your facility and provide real data on increased funding! PHYSIOTHERAPIST Many aged care facilities have difficulty finding Physiotherapists who really understand the ACFI. They are unable to show (and prove to) the facility exactly how the complex health care directives that they

If your aged care dietitian is not providing services in this way, then contact W&L to make a booking on 8331 3000.

recommend have improved resident outcomes AND increased funding. You need to make sure that your physiotherapist is specifically trained in the completion of Mobility and Pain assessments of the aged and has a documentation system that is specifically designed to support accreditation and reduce validation risk. Your physiotherapist should also be coordinating your pain management interventions by delegating to therapy aides, occupational therapists, other physiotherapists and treatment RNs where appropriate. This will achieve an increase in funding that is far greater than the cost of the entire service. ALLIED HEALTH ASSISTANTS Many aged care facilities have difficulty ensuring that personal care workers have the capacity, and documentation systems, to assist resident mobility, rehabilitation, and pain management programs. Allied health professionals should be specifically engaged to provide these services but can be in the form of physiotherapy students or therapy aides with some training. To coordinate this effectively, you need to make sure that they are able to assist as many residents as desired. Often rapidly changing priorities, time limitations, and the requirement to complete routine and

administrative functions can hinder this. If you have any difficulties with this, then W&L can provide aged care physiotherapists and allied health assistants who can assist you in achieving great outcomes for residents and maximising your funding.

If your aged care dietitian is not providing services in this way, then contact W&L to make a booking on 8331 3000.