Transforming aged care residences and asset management with QFM
Villa Maria Catholic Homes (VMCH) has been providing aged care and support to communities across Victoria for more than 100 years. Today, the for-purpose organization oversees a diverse and complex portfolio of more than 125 owned, leased and managed properties, spanning residential aged care, retirement living, disability and community services, affordable housing and corporate offices.
Operating in a highly regulated, competitive and time-sensitive sector, VMCH is committed to delivering safe, high-quality environments for residents, clients, volunteers and staff, while maintaining careful financial control. Its asset management team, comprising 30 people, plays a critical role in supporting this mission, ensuring properties remain compliant, efficient and fit for purpose across the organization’s broad portfolio.
Despite the financial pressures faced by many for-purpose providers, VMCH continues to maintain exceptionally high standards. All residential aged care homes are currently rated Good or Excellent under the Australian aged care Star Rating system, reflecting the organization’s strong compliance performance and commitment to quality care.
Choosing a CMMS with expert insight
In 2022 it was clear that the incumbent work management system could no longer support an organization of this size and complexity. Susan Raffo, General Manager – Property Asset Management, went out to tender to procure a more powerful CMMS solution.
“I was brought into VMCH because of my extensive experience working with CMMS platforms,” states Raffo. “QFM from Service Works Global (SWG) was shortlisted alongside three others, and it was just the best fit for us in terms of functionality and cost.”
Safeguarding a vulnerable population meant software security was high on the list of VMCH’s requirements. QFM was the only system to offer both on-premise installation and cloud-based hosting, providing the flexibility for future migration if and when required.
Raffo worked closely with the team at SWG to implement the software at one pilot site. This enabled tweaks to be made to the set up, and once VMCH were happy, QFM was rolled out across the rest of the properties.
Creating a foundation for strategic asset management
A strong asset management strategy is essential in an aged care setting, ensuring resident safety, maintaining regulatory compliance, and driving financial sustainability through long-term planning. The previous system had no asset management capabilities, so VMCH was keen to maximize this functionality in QFM.
QR codes were added to each asset, so if a problem is found operatives can scan it with the QFM app and instantly log the job against the asset directly. This provides a far more accurate maintenance history for every piece of equipment, improving visibility of recurring faults, asset performance and lifecycle costs. Previously, jobs were often logged only against a location, making it difficult to identify recurring faults assets that were becoming increasingly expensive to maintain. By capturing this information at asset level, VMCH can make more informed decisions around repair-versus-replacement strategies, helping improve reliability while controlling maintenance expenditure.
Operatives can also access documentation, service records and manuals directly through the app, as well as attach photographs to record asset condition and completed works in real time.
“We couldn’t capture any costs against the assets so there was no financial visibility. If I wanted to report on how much we’ve spent on our capital expenditure in the last six months I couldn’t do it, there was nothing on the system. I wanted to change that, and now with QFM we can easily extract the information that we need – whether it’s for financial purposes, a business case, or decision-making,” Raffo explains.
“There was an element of training the team, and reminding them to add their costs, but as a result we were able to move forward and improve. Coming from a FM service provider, I was used to competing against other providers’ costs. VMCH is a for-purpose organization, so being able to manage costs in this way was a high priority for me.”
To support tighter finance control, the team uses QFM’s contractor management module, to help delegate approval authority within authorized limits and reduce administrative bottlenecks. Maintenance officers are permitted to approve work up to a certain value, while higher-cost activities are automatically escalated to facility managers or senior staff for approval.
Raffo adds: “It was important for us to build this in, to encourage the team to seek quotes and add costings to the work orders; otherwise, it’s so easy for this to be omitted – and we need that cost control for asset and lifecycle management.”
Meeting stringent aged care standards
Compliance is important in any healthcare setting, but Australian aged care is strictly governed by the Aged Care Quality Standards under the Aged Care Act 2024. Breaches can result in civil penalties, prosecution and suspension of the care provider’s registration. These standards apply to care practitioners as well as the facilities themselves to ensure residents receive the highest standard of care possible.
VMCH uses QFM to schedule and record all planned preventative maintenance across their over 20,000 assets for the whole year, helping the team plan their time and what needs to happen when.
“From an auditing point of view,” Raffo states, “this is the first thing they would ask to see.”
QFM captures and stores when each job is completed in real time via the app, who completed the work, alongside any reports and photographs or other evidence relating to each asset.
VMCH have also integrated QFM with Linksafe, their contractor management system. This ensures all contractors have the licences, insurance and vaccinations that VMCH require before coming on site. Should anything lapse, the contractor becomes inactive in QFM, and no jobs can be assigned to them until the required documentation is updated and compliance is restored within Linksafe.
Accessible for all
VMCH has also implemented QFM Self-Service – a graphical wizard which enables any building users, from staff and guests to the residents themselves to log a fault, spill, or breakage. Instead of a complex form, a dashboard of images is used – for example a plug to represent an electrical fault or a tap for a plumbing request.
“The Wizard is a lovely feature. It’s visual, so people don’t need to know how to use our CMMS to request something, and especially for those who have English as a second language. It helped us simplify the process, so more requests get logged, and therefore helps us resolve problems more quickly,” says Raffo.
Resident of the day
To help maintain the highest standards, the FM team introduced a scheme called ‘resident of the day’. One or more residents’ rooms are chosen each day for review using checklists created in QFM’s Dynamic Forms and accessed via the QFM app. Raffo and her team built the checklists from scratch to reflect their exact inspection requirements. Separate sections cover beds, en-suite facilities and the wider room environment, ensuring nothing is overlooked and every item is checked off through the app. Anything that needs attention, for example, if a clean is required, can be added to the form, raised as a work order in QFM, and is signed off by a manager.
“We’ve implemented this recently and it’s working really well. It provides visibility that the checks have been completed, by whom, and allows us to report on that when required. We’re also able to see which rooms have been inspected within a given time period so we can ensure every room meets our standards,” says Raffo.
Future focus
Managing the leases, agreements and contractual information for 125 properties is complex, with significant potential for key dates, obligations or compliance requirements to be overlooked. VMCH will be implementing QFM’s property module to provide rapid access to vital management information, supporting effective and timely decision-making. Monthly diary and year planner capabilities will enable property managers to keep track of rental, rate and service charge payments, break clauses and lease renewals.
As with the main CMMS implementation, QFM’s property module will be tested on a couple of sites and when the team is happy, will be rolled out fully.
“We want QFM to be the only source of truth regarding any property,” says Raffo, “Any requests will come to my team and we can provide help. QFM will provide control, transparency and the centralized data we need.’
VMCH also plans to integrate QFM with its finance system, to further streamline the management of costs, contractors and orders. Easier access to data will help feed into VMCH’s asset and lifecycle costings, and reduce the administration involved raising purchase orders and paying invoices.
With QFM in place, VMCH is building a more connected, compliant and financially sustainable approach to facility and asset management – supporting the organization’s long-term commitment to delivering safe, compliant, high-quality environments for residents, staff and communities.
