St Vincent’s Care Services business cases
St Vincent’s Health Australia (SVHA) is the nation’s largest not-for-profit health and aged care provider, operating six public hospitals, 10 private hospitals and 23 aged care facilities across the country.
St. Vincent’s Care Services (SVCS), a part of SVHA providing aged care and retirement services, was interested in developing aged care services for older people with lived experience of homelessness. Since 2019, SVA Consulting has been supporting SVCS to create the business and impact case to help them decide how to develop these services.
The project has involved working closely with service leaders, as well as people with lived experience of homelessness, to ensure the services are high quality, relevant and tailored.
The project
SVHA recognises the need to support and address the needs of people with lived experience of homelessness, as well as address the gaps in providing suitable aged care accommodation.
SVA Consulting worked with SVCS to develop two business and impact cases for SVCS to establish a residential aged care service for people with experience of homelessness. The business cases were sequential, with the second providing further analysis and deeper investigation of remaining uncertainties.
The objective
To support SVCS to assess the potential costs and impact of residential aged care services for people with experience of homelessness.
“St Vincent’s Care Services has a bold vision to support people with experience of homelessness. Our journey toward this vision has involved working with SVA Consulting to assess and scope the operating and service model. The team’s work has provided strong analytical rigour alongside a clear commitment to social impact.”
Richard Lentfer
Executive General Manager, Business Transformation
St Vincent’s Care Services
The role we played
In close collaboration with SVCS, SVA Consulting:
- Researched a broad array of aged care and non-aged care services for people with experience of homelessness
- Worked with specialist advisors to consult and engage with older people with experience of homelessness to understand their needs
- Developed service and staffing models that reflect and cater for the needs and contexts of people with experience of homelessness
- Assessed the financial implications of delivering these services, including the expected operational costs and revenues achievable under the Aged Care Funding Instrument
- Worked with technical experts to evaluate sites and assets in the St. Vincent’s Health Australia property portfolio to assess their viability for such services, and developed capital cost estimates for their construction or renovation
- Recommended an implementation plan for SVCS to further explore and deliver the proposed services
Project impact
SVCS now has a comprehensive understanding of the requirements, implications, and potential impact of establishing residential aged care services for people with experience of homelessness. The detailed business case will allow SVCS to recruit the right personnel to progress the project, have informed discussions with its partners and secure their support, and invest in detailed design work of the required facilities and services.
