Legislative changes and a shift in service expectations have provided the ideal platform for a major Western Australia-based national aged care provider to launch its rebrand.
Legislative changes and a shift in service expectations have provided the ideal platform for a major Western Australia-based national aged care provider to launch its rebrand.
After more than 20 years as St Ives Home Care, the business has taken on a new look and name – Enrich Living Services.
The aged care provider has a national footprint, with 500 employees across the country.
The rebrand follows the business’s separation from St Ives Group in 2016, when three home care brands – St Ives Home Care, HomeCare Options and Community Care Services – were acquired by Enrich Health Group, a joint-venture between Australian private equity firm Quadrant and the RAC.
The consolidation of all three former St Ives brands under Enrich Living Services comes at a time when many people are opting for more at-home services, and amidst the rollout of the federal government’s consumer-directed care legislation, which gives consumers greater control over the types and delivery of services and provider.
Enrich Health Group chief executive Norbert Walther said these changes were key influencing factors during the rebrand process, which had included client consultation and engaging Melbourne marketing agency Traffic.
“When I ask people in that (older) aged group what their aspiration is, many people say they want to stay at home, the place they’re used to, familiar and comfortable with,” Mr Walther told Business News.
“Clients are really looking for something quite different to what they’ve been given; traditionally the sector has been really prescriptive, a little bit transactional in services.
“We really want to move away from that, make sure that it is a journey where the client always carries control and feels they’re empowered to personalise their care.
“And, as the name would suggest, enrich their journey.”
Mr Walther said the rebrand also signalled a new direction for the business’s service model, offering more personalised services including house and garden care, respite and clinical care, companionship and social opportunities, such as its Community Connections program that offered day trips.
“Every day we need to innovate, find new ways to provide an even more personalised and individual service offering to allow people to stay independent and in control,” he said.
“Technology can clearly overcome some of the complexities of delivering home care, it can extend the possibility to stay at home by developing client portals and apps.
“That’s the other aspect of what we are doing, coming up with innovation which allows for that hope to (stay at home) become reality.”
Mr Walther said there were currently about 800 providers servicing the home care sector in Australia.
“For us, Enrich Living Services plays a huge role in what we’re (Enrich Health Group) trying to do, which is to create a multi-disciplinary, innovative, seamless health services business that supports communities,” he said.
“What we’re doing is combining traditional care services with allied health services to really be able to provide our clients an outcomes-focused service, which hopefully will allow our clients to stay independent and in control of their own life for as long as possible.”
Enrich Health Group has made a series of acquisitions in the allied health sector since it was established in 2016, targeting rehabilitation and disability providers, as well as clinical care organisations on the east coast.
The latest of these was its purchase of Sue Mann Nursing and Community Care in NSW in mid-2017.
Mr Walther said the group had taken opportunities on the east coast to expand its reach and would continue to add to its footprint nationally and in WA when the right prospect arose.
