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Day One | Wednesday, 20 May
8:00
Registration and Refreshments
8:50
Welcome to Country
9:00
Welcome and Introduction From the Chair
Cynthia Payne, Managing Director, Anchor Excellence
TURNING REFORMS INTO PRACTICE
9:10
Government Keynote: Strengthening quality, safety and accountability in a new Aged Care Era
How is the Government supporting providers to implement the strengthened Quality Standards and meet higher expectations for safety, clinical governance, culture and risk management?
Understand how the Commission is embedding transparency, accountability and consumer rights, and what providers must prioritise in the first full year of the new Act.
9:40
Reserved Session
10:00
Panel: Bringing the new quality standards to life in residential care
How can aged care providers translate the new Quality Standards into consistent, meaningful practice across governance, daily care, clinical oversight, IPC, and resident experience?
Gain insight into how providers can redesign systems, documentation, reporting, and workforce capability to consistently meet measurable outcomes and uphold older people’s rights.
Moderator: Deborah Karam, Chief Residential Officer, Catholic Healthcare
Jodi Havil, Head of Residential Aged Care, Southern Cross Care
Jenny Summerton, Executive General Manager, Residential Care, Hammondcare
Terese Gatt, Director of Nursing, Kurrajong Nursing Home
Maureen Kennedy, Head of Quality, Excellence and Governance, Infinite Care
10:45
Designing systems that prevent harm and ensure safe, high-quality care
With greater requirements for leadership accountability under Standard 2, how can providers ensure governing bodies have visibility of clinical risk, incidents, complaints, and performance gaps?
Learn about practical reporting frameworks, data dashboards, and board-level oversight models that strengthen safety and quality culture while reducing exposure to non-conformance.
Kristopher McMurdy, National Director of Operations, St Vincent’s Care Services
11:15
Morning Tea & Coffee
11:45
Interactive Breakout Sessions
Join us for 4 small-group roundtables looking deep into the latest challenges and solutions. These small group sessions allow for more dynamic, engaging and discussion-based conversations and are always a highlight of the forum.
12:45
Networking Lunch
ADVANCING CLINICAL EXCELLENCE: MANAGING COMPLEXITY AND RISK
1:45
Polypharmacy: Symptom or system failure?
Are we truly treating the person - or simply managing behaviours through medication? What are the risks of high polypharmacy for people with cognitive decline?
Learn best-practice approaches to reduce overmedication and improve dementia-related symptom management
Dr Simon Pedzisi, Head of Dementia Care, Opal
2:35
Panel: Embedding quality and compassionate palliative care into Aged Care Systems under the Strengthened Standards
How can providers integrate a proactive palliative approach into everyday care to meet new expectations for quality, safety, symptom management, and family communication under Standards 5 and 6?
Gain insight into the governance oversight, workforce capability, and early-identification systems needed to deliver safe, person-led, dignified care at end-of-life, and how leaders can build staff confidence in high-risk, emotionally complex situations
Understand how to make palliative care effective for common comorbities, including dementia, cancer and chronic pain
Moderator: Claire Johnson, Director, PACOP
Chelsea Menchin, National Projects Director, Palliative Care Australia
Linda Cribb, Palliative Care Practice Lead, Uniting
Kaele Stokes, Executive Director Services, Dementia Australia
3:20
Afternoon Tea
3:40
Keynote: Leading with insight: Using technology, AI and early warning signals to improve care
How can aged care leaders leverage digital systems, predictive analytics and AI-driven insights to detect emerging risks earlier, strengthen clinical decision-making, and prevent avoidable harm?
Learn practical ways how AI, real-time dashboards, and intelligent monitoring can improve visibility, enhance safety, and help act sooner and with greater accuracy.
Paul Basso, Head, Data Analytics and AI, Uniting Age Well
DRIVING IMPROVEMENT: ASSURANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY AND CULTURE
4:10
Managing non-conformance: Preparing for audits, responding proportionately, and preventing recurrence
With higher expectations and increased measurability across all the new requirements, how can organisations prepare for audits and respond effectively to minor and major non-conformance?
Gain insight into practical audit readiness, evidence collection, root-cause analysis, corrective action planning and implementing the Commission’s Supervision Model proportionally to risk
Lana Richards, Chief Quality Officer, Catholic Healthcare
4:40
Creating learning cultures that drive continuous improvement and safer care
How can providers create psychologically safe, supportive environments where staff feel confident to speak up, learn from mistakes and contribute to quality improvement?
Gain insight into learning systems, safety huddles, reflective practice, mentoring, and leadership behaviours that rebuild trust, compassion and high-quality care
Mel White, Quality Director, Bupa
5:10
Chairperson’s Closing Remarks
Cynthia Payne, Managing Director, Anchor Excellence
5:15
Networking Drinks
Day Two | Thursday, 21 May
8:30
Registration Opens
Cynthia Payne, Managing Director, Anchor Excellence
RIGHTS, AUTONOMY & THE FOUNDATIONS OF QUALITY CARE
9:10
Keynote: Elevating clinical care through a rights-based lens
As the new Standards raise expectations for clinical governance and accountability, how can providers create cultures and systems that deliver safe, person-led care while respecting autonomy and dignity of risk?
Gain insight into how human-rights principles can guide clearer decision-making, support person-led practice and build confident teams, ensuring Standard 5 is upheld through culture, leadership and daily clinical work
Mary Ducusin, Chief Customer, Risk and Governance Officer, Uniting
9:40
Reserved Session
10:00
Panel: Clinical responsibility in Home Care: Delivering safe care in environments you don't control
How can home care providers meet the new expectations when clinical risk often sits in the client’s home, not in a managed environment? What systems are needed to ensure safe care when providers have limited influence over daily routines, environmental conditions and the decisions clients make?
Explore practical strategies for assessing and responding to clinical risk in the community, navigating complex family dynamics, ensuring worker safety, building clear escalation frameworks, and maintaining compliance without undermining consumer autonomy
Deidre McGill, Chief Operating Officer, Home & Community Support, Bolton Clarke
Greg Bartley, Chief Operating Officer, Dovida
Mel Ottaway, Executive Manager Community Services & Retirement Living, Resthaven
Marcela Carrasco, Executive General Manager Home Care, Hammond Care
Shey Schillaci, General Manager of Community, Health and Care, Benetas Home Care
Chris Snepvangers, Director, Nursing, Safety & Enterprise, Silverchain
10:50
Morning Tea & Coffee
CULTURALLY SAFE, PERSON-LED CARE
11:20
Keynote: Elevating care through First Nations cultural safety
How can aged care organisations honour cultural identity, support self-determination and work meaningfully with First Nations peoples in everyday care?
Gain insight into culturally responsive models of care, co-design, building trust with communities and supporting a culturally skilled workforce that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of the new quality framework
Kim Whiteley, Chief Executive Officer, NATSIAAC
11:50
Developing the next generation of residential clinical and quality leaders
How can providers build leadership pipelines that are clinically confident, risk-aware and aligned with rights-based care?
Gain insight into capability frameworks, reflective supervision, coaching, succession planning and creating environments where leaders thrive.
Hon. John Ajaka, Chairman, My Guardian - Aged & Disability Care
12:20
Social dining & nutrition-led mealtime experiences: How to make sure you meet the requirements of the new Standard 6
How can aged care providers deliver safe, enjoyable, nutrition-led mealtime experiences that meet the new measurable outcomes, enhance quality of life, and support better nutrition through social connectivity and shared meals?
Gain insight into co-designing menus, respecting individual preference and discover how communal dining and social mealtime interactions can reduce malnutrition risk while creating a more enjoyable experience for residents
Dr Fiona Willer, President and Lecturer, Dieticians Australia, Queensland University of Technology
12:50
Networking Lunch
CONFIDENCE, INSIGHT & THE FUTURE OF CLINICAL CARE
12:45
Networking Lunch
1:50
Early speech changes as clinical clues for cognitive decline
How can subtle shifts in speech provide some of the earliest indicators of neurodegeneration, long before functional decline becomes visible?
Gain insight into how reduced speech complexity, slower speech rate and conversational changes can support earlier recognition of cognitive impairment, complement traditional assessments, and guide more confident, person-centred clinical decision-making in aged care
Dr. Adam Vogel, Professor, Centre for Neuroscience of Speech, The University of Melbourne
2:20
The future of clinical care and risk: What comes next?
What trends will reshape risk oversight and quality systems in the next five years?
Gain insight into predictive analytics, digital documentation, real-time risk dashboards, transparency expectations, and how innovative care models can influence the future direction of aged care
Rameez Hassan, Chief Nursing Officer, Regis Aged Care
2:50
Panel: Empowering residents in their decision-making
How can providers enable empowered choice and truly person-centred care when cognitive changes, power imbalances, family pressures and concerns about safety make resident decision-making both challenging and at times controversial?
Discover practical ways to uphold resident voice through clear communication, shared decision-making, balancing autonomy and risk with dignity and respect
Moderator: Marie Alfred, General Manager Growth & Innovation National Programs, HammondCare
Craig Gear, Chief Executive Officer, OPAN
Geoff Rowe, Chief Executive Officer, Aged & Disability Advocacy (ADA)
Dr Craig Sinclair, Senior Research Fellow – Neuroscience Research Australia, University of NSW
3:45
Chairperson’s Closing Remarks
Cynthia Payne, Managing Director, Anchor Excellence
3:30
Cultural safety in aged care staffing
How to ensure your workplace is culturally safe and inclusive for migrant aged care workers and residents?
Better understand and meet the cultural needs of aged care workers to enhance well-being, retention, and quality of care.
Kath Horton, Independent Business Owner, Aged Care Curriculum SME and NDIS Recipient Support Coordinator
4:00
Close of Forum