Wimmera UnitingCare is committed to continuous quality improvement throughout all programs, services and activities of the agency and aims to achieve the highest possible quality in all services provided. The governance and management of all Wimmera UnitingCare services reflect and incorporate the values of Uniting Church of Australia, Victoria.
To ensure that Wimmera UnitingCare meets and exceeds all program legislation and standards the agency has a dedicated quality team who in conjunction with program managers, oversee organisation accreditation and compliance. To review the agency program accreditation information click here
The agency quality team focuses on the overall quality accreditation and compliance of all programs across Wimmera UnitingCare. The quality team conduct regular internal audits on all quality processes in cooperation with programs across the agency and assists in developing one internal audit system.
From January 2012 to November 2012 58 internal audits of Wimmera UnitingCare programs were conducted. As a result of systematically monitoring and reviewing processes and internal audits, Wimmera UnitingCare is fully compliant with all accreditation and registration requirements.
The Early Years quality team focuses on providing effective leadership and mentoring to Early Years employees in delivering quality education and care programs to all children and supporting communities need for early childhood progams. Wimmera UnitingCare has aligned all Early Years policies and procedures to the new National Quality Framework implemented in January 2012.
The Early Years quality team maintains a rigorous internal audit schedule by conducting comprehensive internal audits of the 15 child care centres every six weeks. Wimmera UnitingCare is proud to announce that Early Years were amongst 25% of organisations who passed stringent department audits against the new quality framework. This is a huge accomplishment and adds to the fully compliant status of all Wimmera UnitingCare against external audits.
The reponsibility of continuous improvement and quality activities are an important part of our everyday operations. There is regular discussion through individual employee supervision and team meetings of initiatives that may assist quality improvement within programs or the agency as a whole. The Quality Committee meets monthly and is responsible for overseeing the Quality Management System of Wimmera UnitingCare with the aim of ensuring that all programs are consistent with the agency purpose, mission and values while ensuring standards are met and accreditation is maintained while driving a culture of continual quality improvement and industry best practice.
The key objectives of the quality committee include providing a mechanism for consultation and communication throughout the agency on policies, procedures and forms issues. They also monitor and review the agency Quality Plan and ensure accreditation information is shared throughout the organisation. The Chief Executive Officer is the Chair of the Quality Committee which comprises of representatives from all Wimmera UnitingCare programs. The Quality Committee is accountable to the Executive Management Team who are then accountable to the Board of Governance.
Review by external auditors is both a requirement of funding bodies and a necessity to gaining an objective overall view of where the organisation stands regarding standards and legislation. Wimmera UnitingCare sees these reviews as opportunities to get feedback on our systems, policies and procedures. We are fully compliant with Victorian registration requirements and both Australian and Victorian standards and accreditation requirements.
Wimmera UnitingCare appreciates the importance of seeking feedback from all stakeholders including other accreditation bodies with international experience. We have begun the process of being reviewed by ChildWise an Australian charity dedicated to protecting children everywhere. It is the only Australian based organisation working in Australia, Asia and the Pacific to prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. ChildWise are perfectly positioned to review our organistaion and offer valuable insights into models of world-wide child safe best practice models. We have also listed ChildWise training on our core agency training calendar.