Turning Extra Care Into Smarter Care

In many homes, teams deliver more care minutes than required. The intention is positive but often it happens without planning, control, or enough funding to back it up.

Take a simple example:

A 100-bed RACF at 96% occupancy

Delivering 110% of required care minutes

That’s 20,640 minutes required per day… but with overdelivery, another 2,000+ minutes are added.

At $36 an hour, that’s:

• 34 extra hours a day

• Around $1,200 in additional workforce spend

• More than $110,000 across a quarter

Why does this happen? Often it’s:

• Static rosters that don’t flex with occupancy or acuity

• Limited visibility of care minute delivery and fulfilment data

• Greater use of agency resources than planned

• Recruitment and retention gaps

The upside is real: if overdelivery is recognised and managed, those resources can be redirected into staff wellbeing, resident programs, or strengthening financial resilience.

The hidden risk is when funding isn’t managed or optimised to support the extra care. What starts as a positive can quietly put pressure on sustainability.

Worth reflecting on:

• Are we consistently going above target — and is it intentional and controlled?

• Could rebalancing free up opportunities for staff or residents?

• How can smarter planning help us do more with the same resources?