Sixth quarterly update of icare's Improvement Program released
This update sets out Promontory Australia's observations on icare's progress in addressing the McDougall and GAC Recommendations during the period from 1 February 2023 to 30 April 2023.
icare continues to make significant progress in the execution of its Improvement Program, maintaining momentum with the ongoing embedment of Initiatives, according to independent assurer Promontory Australia.
The Improvement Program was set up following recommendations that came out of the McDougall Review and the Governance, Accountability and Culture (GAC) review in early 2021.
Collectively, the reviews made a set of recommendations to strengthen icare’s culture, governance and accountability framework, upgrade icare’s risk awareness, risk management and risk capability, and bring about a greater focus on customer outcomes.
Promontory recognised that during the Reporting Period, icare delivered a number of key milestones of the Improvement Program. This included Promontory's assessment of 15 Recommendations as complete and effective in the period.
Promontory found (as at the Reporting Date) icare had commenced or completed work on:
- the Design Phase for all Initiatives
- the Implement Phase for 90 per cent of Initiatives
- the Embed Phase for 70 per cent of Initiatives
Three key areas of focus
Promontory identified three key areas of focus for this update: balancing timeliness and quality, sustainability, and resourcing.
The Report observed that in the period, Program Sponsors had emphasised the importance of balancing quality and timeliness.
However, the Report also noted the importance of maintaining focus on this balance as the remaining Program Initiatives and Recommendations were completed and addressed, in order to support achievement of high-quality outcomes.
For sustainability Promontory noted that it was crucial for icare to not only deliver on the outcomes required by each of the Recommendations, but to also be vigilant that outcomes remain sustainable over time, supporting a continuous improvement focus to avoid the possibility of the positive changes made eroding over time after completion of the Program.
For managing resourcing Promontory recognised that the embedment phase of transformation Programs like the Improvement Program is generally the most resource-intensive stage.
To that end, it is imperative that icare continues to allocate adequate resources to the business-as-usual teams as the management of new processes, policies and systems passes from the Program to the business.
icare Managing Director and CEO Richard Harding said it was great that significant progress made by the Program continued to be recognised.
"The Improvement Program team continues to work really hard on delivering great outcomes for the people we serve."
"The team have made some great steps in the period and we’re very proud we have been able to close 15 Recommendations, although there is still quite a way to go. It is important to keep this momentum and these improvements going, so we can create meaningful, sustainable change."
Promontory will continue to provide quarterly updates on icare's progress in executing the Improvement Program. These updates are published on this website.
