A New Years Message: Executive General Manager, Karen Leighton

Karen Leighton, Executive General Manager - Vivir Healthcare • January 20, 2023

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a lovely break and spent some well-deserved downtime with your family and friends over the festive period. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated clinical workforce and our extended support office team members who worked, ensuring the continuation of essential services.

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Year in Reflection

2022 was certainly another testing year for us all with respect to the continued impact of COVID. These challenges however did not deter the business in pushing forward on the necessary strategic planning on preparing the business for aged care reform.

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Introduction of AN-ACC

With AN-ACC (Australian National Aged Care Classification) replacing the ACFI (Aged Care Funding Instrument) funding model across the Residential Sector the key strategy for Vivir was to remodel our service options with the focus on active maintenance and reablement of residents.


Vivir’s successful launch of alternative service options including Allied Health Group Exercise Program which was modelled on the SUNBEAM program provides our trusted customers with the confidence that their residents will continue to benefit from keeping, and improving physical function, health, and wellbeing.


Whilst we embrace the much-needed requirements of Aged Care reform, we stay optimistic that the department will eventually mandate minimum Allied Health Minutes across the residential sector thus ensuring Residents continue to have access and receive the necessary support they need and deserve.

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Telehealth Transformation

The pandemic has certainly accelerated the need for digital transformation, Vivir continues to report significant growth on our Telehealth to You (TH2U) and Telehealth (TH) service delivery options within Residential, Community and Disability services.


This innovation has supported reducing wait times for users accessing essential Allied Health support and has provided Vivir with the ability to extend its geographical reach to regional and remote communities Nationally.

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Investment in Disability Services

Early last year Vivir continued its investment into strengthening our disability service footprint, with the appointment of Robert Kilpatrick as Vivir’s National Operational Manager, this addition now completes the full composition of Vivir’s Leadership team.

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Robert Joins our other five Senior Leaders:


Further Reform in 2023

With the next phase of Aged Care reform where we will see the introduction of the Support at Home program, Vivir will continue to strategically prepare the business as we gear up for more change.


We are excited to welcome this next phase of the reform as further funding will be provided to Senior Australians to ensure they receive the support when and where they need it. We will see further simplification to current practices on accessibility, increased value for money in addition to improved quality and Safety measures.


The new model of care will aim to tailor specific care needs rather than care to fit within a package level. Older Australians will also have a greater choice between what provider they wish to use.

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Moving Forward

With respect to our disability service options, Vivir will continue to invest and improve access for participants who are eligible for disability funding. We will be actively working with our strategic partners and end users on providing further education on how they can access and make the most of their funding on therapy services to improve day-to-day daily living activities.


Another focus this year will be supplying the necessary training and development of our dedicated Allied Health workforce to become a hybrid mobile workforce. This move will enable further improvement on service optimisation to meet the demands of our customers across all the sectors we serve.

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I think it’s safe to say we have a busy and exciting year ahead – and I for one cannot wait to get started!

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