Of the many Aged Care and Retirement Living clients we’ve interacted with over the years, very few had already implemented a long-term preventative maintenance strategy. Most operators are so busy with the clinical care component of their business, they simply don’t have the people power to think about the upkeep and status of their assets and buildings longer term.
Based on our 10+ years experience specialising in the aged care sector, reactive maintenance is the standard method of upkeep for assets such as HVAC, catering equipment, plumbing and electrical – but this has shown to be more expensive and with more downtime for organisations in the long term. This article will explain how preventive maintenance saves costs and mitigates risk in aged care and retirement living facilities.
The Safety Benefits of Preventive Aged Care Maintenance
Preventive aged care maintenance ensures equipment, infrastructure, and facilities remain safe and comfortable for residents. For example, regularly servicing HVAC systems maintains air quality, and outsourcing the timely inspection of fire safety equipment will prevent the unspeakable and avoid non-compliance penalties.
Does your team have extra capacity in their workload to deal with unexpected breakdowns or hazards? They need to focus on care and daily operations rather than maintenance logistics, and preventative (or planned) maintenance does exactly this. Speak with MDFM about how we can help you maintain staff efficiencies while we manage your asset maintenance.
Extend your asset lifespan through thoughtful planning and regular aged care maintenance. Almost every asset will benefit from routine upkeep and servicing. Scheduled maintenance prevents premature wear-and-tear on building components, care equipment, and other critical assets.
Financial Benefits of Preventive Maintenance in Aged Care:
Preventive maintenance prevents sudden, costly repairs by catching small issues before they become major problems. Often an urgent or after-hours call-out fee can triple the cost of repairs that could have been attended to as part of a routine service by an agreed outsourced maintenance provider. MDFM has a team of trusted outsourced maintenance partners we schedule to provide planned maintenance at our clients’ facilities, saving them significant costs and preventing stress for their financial controllers.
Routine maintenance lets facilities plan and budget more effectively, saving money over time compared to emergency fixes. MDFM can help keep your team in their roles and take care of the ongoing asset maintenance with our cost efficient outsourced maintenance resources. Each of them are pre-vetted with you, have the necessary safety and police checks to work at your site and are used to the nuances of the Aged care sector.
Save on energy costs with well maintained assets: Consider that a well maintained or safely replaced asset will use less energy than one that is past its lifespan or is operating in an ill-maintained state. Inefficient lights, leaking pipes and dirty HVAC systems are great examples of assets that benefit from planned maintenance.
Risk Mitigation through Preventive Maintenance
Minimise Health and Safety Risks to your staff and residents by ensuring that your fire equipment is routinely serviced by your fire services provider.
Avoid legal penalties by implementing preventive maintenance that keeps your facility compliant and risk free. Broken, overheating or poorly maintained assets are not worth the headaches or the risk.
How to implement a Preventive Maintenance Plan
MDFM can help you develop a maintenance schedule, tailored to facility needs and regulatory requirements. We can also help you invest in the right tools and technologies to monitor your maintenance, such as a CMMS and issue reporting apps that streamline your maintenance efforts.
A component that is often forgotten in the preventative aged care maintenance plan is training and empowering your staff. Did you know that MDFM provides all the necessary education and training in maintenance software and protocols, so that you retain control of your asset maintenance?
Be as hands on (or hands off) as you want to, by engaging MDFM to support your facility and staff with the experience and outsourced specialists to identify, report and maintain assets.
A proactive approach is the best way to maintain assets for cost-efficiency and well-being of Residents and staff. Ready to adopt a proactive maintenance plan? Speak to MDFM today.