UnitingCare Queensland is very proud to announce that one of its key agencies, Blue Care has received two major accolades in the space of two days!

On June 10 Blue Care was officially named a “Queensland icon” in the Q150 Icons list which was drawn up as part of the celebrations for the 150^th anniversary of Queensland.  The following day Blue Care received a Premier’s Award in the Queensland “Greats” Awards - only the fourth organisation to ever receive this accolade!

“To receive two awards in as many days is an outstanding result and the Board and I congratulate all the wonderful Blue Care staff and volunteers for this great achievement,” Anne Cross, Chief Executive Officer, UnitingCare said.

 “These thoroughly well deserved awards recognise their compassionate and caring work which continues to be such an inspiration.” 

“To be named a Queensland “great” is a real honour and it is also a tribute to the work of Blue Care that it has been celebrated as one of the 150 Queensland icons in this our state’s 150^th anniversary – along with The Great Barrier Reef, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, World Expo ’88 and many other diverse people, places and stories that have made Queensland the place it is today,” she said.

The Queensland Greats Award was presented on June 11 by the Premier Anna Bligh at a ceremony where Blue Care staff and volunteers were praised for providing care for vulnerable, frail and often isolated clients and residents with kindness, dignity, humour and hope when they most needed it.

Other 2009 Queensland Greats announced at the ceremony were philanthropist Philip Bacon AM, angel Flight Founder Bill Bristow AM, singer/songwriter and educationalist Kevin Carmody, medical scientist Dr Robyn Rodwell and community supporter Anthony Ryan.

In congratulating the 2009 Queensland Greats Premier Anna Bligh said that each of them had made a remarkable and highly individual contribution, not just in their field but to the broader Queensland community.

“They are an inspiration to all,” she said

“Blue Care has grown to be the largest not-for-profit provider of community and residential aged care in Australia.

“Their remarkable service extends to the frail, aged, people with a disability, those requiring nursing or allied health support as well as individuals and carers who are in need of support and education,” she said.

From L to R Alan Lawson, Anne Cross, Jill Wilson, Linda Apelt and Prof. Llew Edwards

The UnitingCare Chair in Social Policy and Research, established in partnership with The University of Queensland, was launched at a ceremony on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at Customs House, Brisbane.  This is the first time the UQ School of Social Work and Applied Human Services has established a Joint Chair with a non profit organisation. 

This important position demonstrates a clear commitment by UnitingCare Queensland to build research capability to deliver improved outcomes for the people served by UnitingCare agencies, and to better influence social policy.

Anne Cross, Chief Executive Officer UnitingCare Queensland, said that the importance of evidenced based research in shaping the future development of UnitingCare Queensland’s service delivery agenda could not be underestimated.

“The development and implementation of a clear research agenda will enable us to better understand the complex and changing needs of the thousands of people that we help each year and to better tailor our services to meet those needs,” she said.

“We will seek to invest in research that will result in practical outcomes by informing what services we provide across our agencies in the future and how these can provide the best outcomes for our clients.”

The inaugural incumbent of this prestigious role, Professor Jill Wilson AO, has a strong national and international profile as a researcher and as an academic in social work and human service practice. Until recently she was Head of the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences at The University of Queensland.  With these credentials, and her association of more than 30 years with the health and community services of the Uniting Church, including ten years as Chair of the UnitingCare Queensland Board, Professor Wilson is extremely well placed to lead and pursue an innovative research and social policy agenda on behalf of The University of Queensland and UnitingCare Queensland.

“It is a great honour to be the first incumbent in this key position,” Professor Wilson said.

“UnitingCare has taken a clear and innovative lead in the non-profit sector in establishing this Joint Chair with the University of Queensland and in planning to develop a research framework that will ensure that the organisation manages its sustainability into the future by providing services that are responsive and relevant,” she said.

Guest of Honour at the ceremony was  Director-General, Department of Communities, Linda Apelt, who spoke about the position and its alignment with the state government’s social policy agenda.

UnitingCare Health is one of only 10 organisations in Queensland, out of 99 throughout Australia, to achieve an Employer of Choice for Women citation this year.
Awarded annually by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace agency the citation recognises organisations for achieving “outstanding outcomes for women”.

This year six new prerequisites were introduced to the selection process which “raised the bar” in achieving employer of choice status.  These included a minimum of six weeks paid maternity leave after 12 months of service; the ability for female managers to work part-time and the percentage of female managers being at least 27 per cent of the industry average.

Each year, UnitingCare Health cares for around 100 000 patients in its five hospitals (the Wesley, St Andrew’s War Memorial, Sunshine Coast Private, St Stephen’s Maryborough and Hervey Bay) situated around Brisbane and regional Queensland. 

With a workforce of more than 3 500 the organisation has focussed on developing business practises that encourage flexibility in areas such as rostering practices and part-time work and that foster a good work/life balance for staff members.

“We have a strong commitment to providing assistance to our employees who have young children and also those who are caring for elderly family members – a growing trend in our organisation,” Richard Royle, CEO UnitingCare Health, said.

“Flexible work practices are essential as an employer of choice – we rely on our staff to deliver an outstanding service and in return we endeavour to make it as easy as we can for them to come and work for us.

“We embrace diversity and value the contribution that every one of our employees makes to our organisation,” he said.

Director of EOWA Anna McPhee said that Employer of Choice for Women status have moved beyond simply writing policies.

”For these organisations creating equity is about changing culture, changing expectations, breaking down the outdated myths about women and finally valuing the massive contribution women make to the workplace whether they are working part-time or full-time, working from home or in the office, starting their careers or nearing retirement,” she said.

In congratulating UnitingCare Health, an agency of UnitingCare Queensland, Anne Cross, CEO of UnitingCare Queensland said that this achievement demonstrated the absolute commitment that the organisation has to equity for women in the workplace.

“In achieving this recognition for the sixth consecutive year, UnitingCare Health has clearly demonstrated an ongoing commitment to creating a workplace which provides employment choice for all our staff and in particular the many women who work in our hospitals,” she said.

A report by the Centre for Social Justice for UnitingCare Queensland This report launched during Anti-poverty week 2006 has been written to identify the dimensions of spatial disadvantage in Queensland and to inform the future service delivery and research work undertaken by UnitingCare Queensland.

A Scan of Disadvantage in Queensland (2.5 MB) Full Version