Carving a career out of caring for others takes a special skill and for Just Better Care founder Trish Noakes it all began in her childhood.
“I probably got in to nursing because my mother was a nurse. I used to spend weekends at the nursing home where she worked, it was part of my growing up. I was very comfortable in this kind of environment. When I left school I chose nursing but I wasn’t keen on hospitals, there was no time for people. I did general nursing then psychology, and worked in the community.
“I learned a lot, it was the time of the Richmond report [on mental health] and people were very disempowered. There were discussions on whether people have got the capacity to make their own decisions.”
As a result of this experience Trish [pictured here] spent 20 years – with five years off as a new mother – in community nursing. But then a new idea was brewing – setting up her own business.
Entrepreneurship
“I wanted to make things happen. I could see opportunities to provide a good quality staffing to residential facilities, who usually have a lot of casual staff.”
She set up her business in 1995 and the agency proved successful. And Trish was often approached by families wanting her to supply hospital-to-home nursing care.”But after seven years I was burnt out so I sold my first venture to the Wesley Mission.” However, Trish found business ownership had got into her heart and soul, and she couldn’t go back to being anything other than a business owner.
So she learned some new skills, studied neurolinguistic programming, which looks at ways to alter thoughts to effect a change in reality, and then set up a childcare agency in 2000.
Again, providing good quality care was the foundation of the business, which sourced staff as nannies, for centres, or at home nursing sick kids. “The five to seven years of age are pivotal of how children progress into adulthood. I felt a real gap in the market, and we did really well, but parents who are prepared to pay for private school won’t spend a couple of thousand dollars recruiting a nanny. You need to have the volume of business for the costs.”
After three years Trish felt too much pain and not enough gain in her business, and let it fold.
So what next? The focus became at-home care for the aged and those with disabilities.
“I wanted to do something different, I believed very strongly that a good personal service has to be local. Neighbourhoods vary in culture and character, and you need someone local.
“In 1992 my father had died, and he was not able to die at home, there was no palliative care. His wish wasn’t granted. Today we can provide this support in the home.”
Trish Noakes in her nursing days
Key to this support are the sophisticated systems and quality management systems fundamental to ensure funding. Trish realised a stand alone business can’t exist in the market anymore, it has to meet national and state legislation. Her challenge was to match the personal touch and get the systems required. Franchising seemed ideal, she says.
“The owners pay for the systems, and the franchisor concentrates on providing top quality management systems. I really liked the idea. The franchisee retains, upskills and trains a quality workforce who will stay for years. They know the individual services needed.”
Franchise challenge
Not for profit organisations which have been servicing the market are not flexible enough, she says. “This is a really powerful way to deliver.”
But it was a strong learning curve, she admits. “I always thought I was a community support provider but someone told me, no you’re in franchising. It was a wake up call. I had to understand the franchisor/franchisee relationship. I’ve employed my own staff, but this is different. It’s different too to family, there are expectations to manage, people of different levels of maturity within the business. It’s fantastic.”
The intricacies of franchising initially proved testing for Trish, and forced her to think differently.
“It was quite a challenge the first couple of years,” she admits.
It hasn’t been an easy ride. There was plenty of disparagement of the concept of a commercial enterprise in the care sector. “People saw aged care and disability care as something that should not be in the private sector. It’s a bit of a sacred cow, profit-seeking is a dirty word. We’ve had to show we provide quality, cost effective solutions and we’re good to work with.”
For every franchisee signed up there are probably 200 enquiries, and some are easily dismissed. “Some people just look at the dollars. Once they start talking about return on investment, we weed them out very quickly. Usually successful franchisees enquire because they’ve had an experience with someone elderly or with a disability. They’ve discovered that good community support is fantastic, and when it doesn’t exist it’s a disaster.”
There are 30 franchisees now, but there’s still room to grow across the country says Trish, who plans to add 10 each year.
And reform processes for both the disability and aged care sectors are good news for the business. When the National Disability Insurance Scheme is fully implemented in 2018 it will mean an estimated annual spend of $18 billion. This will allow an indiviual, or family, to choose services and providers.
Aged care is going through a five year reform which will see more consumer choice but not full deregulation; after 2017 the market is expected to open up to individual’s or families managing their funding. What it means is empowerment for families and individuals. “It’s music to our ears,” says Trish. “We’re customer focused and they can determine where the money goes.”
Although down the track she might review the care market in New Zealand, her focus remains very much on Australia, and the business won’t be going further afield. “China has no age care service and we’ve been approached to do work there. But we have a clear agenda and don’t want to spread too wide.”
Franchisees themselves are rarely experts in aged or disability care, most come from outside the industry, and that suits Trish. “Most people in the industry are very conservative.” But the franchisees employ industry-experienced people as trainers and co-ordinators.
“The business has changed totally from when I started out. For instance, the top quality management systems. Each time a person comes in, we’ve learned consistency and how to provide franchisee support. We want to find better ways to communicate with community staff, they are the eyes and ears, and we want to really involve them, so their information is shared at every level.”
Ageing Australians
With an ageing population (people of 60 now have an average life expectancy of 92, someone born last year can expect to live 125 years) there is plenty of potential in this business. And Trish has spread her wings beyond straightforward care provision.
“We are really getting into wellness; 3.6m people will be receiving aged care service in 2050. How will we manage these costs?”
Last year the business launched Recipes for Life, this year’s campaign is Recipes for a Better Life. The concept is for people to share recipes for highly nutritious meals, and it’s a competition designed to engage consumers who have to think what four ingredients can make a meal. The most voted for recipe wins $500 worth of shopping a month for 12 months.
“We’ve all got ageing parents and we want families to start thinking about this earlier,” says Trish who has secured foodie favourite Maggie Beer to headline the project. “Maggie is passionate about older people having good outcomes. She really gets it and she’s agreed to come on board.
“I’ve learned to be incredibly innovative, not to be afraid to put ideas out there,” says Trish. “It feels quite limitless. We’re interested too in technology, and how it can help people live a more independent life. We get a lot of joy out of this. It’s a very positive industry, even though you can come across some very hard stories. You can’t change people’s circumstances, but you can make them easier. It’s very satisfying.”