CEO Trent Watsons year in review

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Well Christmas is nearly here and another year has gone. This time of the year brings with it the opportunity of providing more time with our friends and family. As a business it also provides the opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed.

At the beginning of 2016 we made a commitment to “Be Better” every day and in every way we deliver our services. This commitment was to ensure we are true to our purpose…To inspire, create and deliver solutions to improve the health and safety of people and workplace communities we work with. Well…have we been true to our commitment?

I have reflected on some of our highlights in 2016 below and believe we can comfortably say we have some tangible demonstration of our commitment, in both our Clinical and Workplace Services businesses.

CLINICAL SERVICES

Primary health care is definitely a rapidly changing environment and to keep relevant we are constantly reviewing our service delivery model to ensure
we continue to tangibly demonstrate we are getting better health outcomes, better patient satisfaction and better value for money than current service delivery models.


It is with some pride to know that we have supported 3000 new clients Be Better in 2016. They chose Ethos Health as their health care
provider to assist with finding solutions to issues such as musculoskeletal injuries, losing weight through to manage a chronic disease such as diabetes.
Some specific program highlights include:

Diabetes Blitz

In collaboration with nib Health Fund we were commissioned to run our Diabetes Blitz program with the goal of achieving better health
outcomes for nib members with Type 2 diabetes. Of the one hundred and twenty-eight members who expressed interest, 105 were recruited with the consent
and support of their General Practitioner. Of the 735 appointments, 674 were attended giving a 92% compliance with the program. This compliance consequently
realised significant improvements in clinical markers (body weight, HbA1c, lipids, liver function, kidney function), reductions in the distress individuals
experience managing diabetes that are better than those demonstrated in conventional service delivery models. Our program also received
outstanding patient feedback with a 9.5 out of 10 net promoter rating. We are currently working with the University of Newcastle to have the outcomes
independently analysed and published with a view to expanding the program delivery in 2017 to ensure more people with diabetes can leave our service
feeling better!

Learn More: Beating Diabetes – Micks Story

Rehab at home

Alongside our Diabetes Blitz program, our collaborative Rehab at Home trial which provides rehabilitation services for orthopaedic patients at their home
rather than as an in-patient, is another demonstration of our constant pursuit to be creative and innovative in our thinking. We look forward to continuing
and growing this service in 2017.

Sporting Clubs

Another highlight is our ongoing and newly established relationships with sporting clubs, responding to any injuries with our physiotherapists attending
games, access to our walk-in recovery clinics on Monday mornings, access to the Lake Macquarie Private Hospital (LMPH) Emergency on weekends, as well
as, our treatment clinics at Newcastle and LMPH at Gateshead. We value all our close working relationship with these clubs and look forward to working
with them to ensure they remain injury free, can return to their sport as efficiently as possible and ensure they perform better in
2017.

Wanderers Rugby (Seniors & Juniors)

Newcastle International Hockey Centre NIHC                         
Junior Gold Rugby ARU (national)                    
Wanderers Netball Pinpoint Gym Newcastle District Cricket
Charlestown Netball Lakes Rugby League Central Coast International 7’s (Rugby)                   

Newcastle and Hunter Rugby Union Representative NHRU (Seniors)

Lake Macquarie Oztag

 
Southern Beaches Rugby

Learn More: Common throwing injuries

WORKPLACE SERVICES

NSWMC Obesity Blueprint & Workplace Obesity Management Initiatives

Ethos Health were proud to be part of this year’s NSW Minerals Council development and launch (August 2016) of the Blueprint for the Management of Overweight
and Obesity in the New South Wales Mining Industry. This Blueprint recognises that the workplace can play a critical role in the prevention and management
of obesity through social leadership, providing a supportive workplace culture and environment, which has the potential for a broader health and wellbeing
impact, particularly in regional areas. The NSW minerals industry is committed to a sustained approach to fostering healthy and productive workplaces
that support the prevention and management of overweight and obesity with a vision of reversing the current population trend of approximately gaining
300g per person per year by setting a vision for the industry of “one kilo at a time, one miner at a time, one year at a time”. One mining operation
has been quick to take up the challenge and has achieved some extraordinary engagement with 82% of their workforce (385) participating in the initial
weigh-in. One-hundred and eighty-eight (62%) had a follow-up weigh-in with a total weight loss of 237kg. The engagement in the initiative is far better than expected and the vision has been achieved with greater than 1kg average weight loss in the initial 12 weeks. We very much look forward to continuing
to be a part of the initiative and working collaboratively with a whole range of stakeholders to ensure the vision is realised.

Learn More: NSW Mining Obesity Blueprint

Fatigue First Aid

We have assisted a number of national and multi-national clients this year to deliver training to ensure they can better manage fatigue
in the workplace. We have provided subject matter expertise to undertake Fatigue Risk Assessments, developed and reviewed procedures, navigated roster
transitions and have trained more than 3000 workers in 2016 for companies such as Glencore (Bulga Open Cut, BMA (Saraji, Goonyella Riverside), Kalari
(National), HSE Mining (Sariji, Peak Downs, South Walker Creek) and Mars Foods. We look forward to launching our new Wakey App in 2017 which we promise
will help better monitor, manage and educate workplace fatigue.

Learn More: How to create a Fatigue Resistant culture? 


MoveSAFE

The sustainability of our MoveSAFE suite of musculoskeletal prevention and management services with a number of our clients is also a demonstration of
our continuous commitment to be better. Our team of trainers were out in the field with Ausgrid personnel for the 9th year in a row
from Muswellbrook in the north to Oatley in the south. We have now delivered three rounds of injury prevention training to NSW Health Share linen and
Newcastle City Council refreshed their injury prevention training again this year. Four of our five onsite physiotherapy injury treatment clinics will
continue into 2017 which continue to provide tangible outcomes for these workplaces. We were sad to finish the Drayton onsite clinic after 11 years
of continuous service with its closure. We value all of our ongoing relationships, will continue to look to Be Better with a number
of improvements planned for our MoveSAFE service offering and welcome any new enquiries in 2017.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Finally, I think it is also important to note that our commitment to operational excellence has seen our staff undergo a range or ongoing professional
development activities such as Cert 4 in Assessment and Training, lung health, Pilates, dry needling to name a few. We also renewed our website, are
increasing our distribution of health information to our valued clients and have implemented a new scheduling and billing system to make for a better
customer experience.

On behalf of the Ethos team, I would firstly like to thank everyone we have had the opportunity to work with in 2016 as this provides us the opportunity to fulfill our purpose. I would also like to wish everyone a healthy and safe Christmas and New Year.

We look forward to meeting up in 2017 to share some new and exciting plans to Be Better; and continue to inspire, create and deliver solutions to improve the health and safety of people and workplace communities we work with.

Yours in health and safety

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