KinCare was founded by Margaret Howie in 1992.

Margaret is a registered nurse who has always had a passion for ensuring older people receive the highest standard of care and support. She wanted to be involved with an organisation that cared and really made a difference for older people. She also wanted to ensure that quality services were available to people irrespective of their socio-economic background or circumstances.
In 1990 and 1991 Margaret began providing in-home support services for Parramatta Nursing Service. When this merged with the Western Sydney Area Health Service, their staffing levels were reduced and Margaret was offered the opportunity to separate from Parramatta Nursing Service with a small group of clients. In consultation with the Nursing Service and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Margaret launched KinCare Nursing Service with 16 clients in 1992.

KinCare Nursing Service commenced with Margaret working as a sole practice nurse with her office at home. She received additional referrals from doctors and hospitals and soon employed her first staff member. Since this time Kincare has continued to expand its range of services and geographic coverage.

In 1998, KinCare commenced providing Community Aged Care Packages in Northern Sydney and Home and Community Care services in the ACT. KinCare AHEAD (later KinCare Response and TeleResponse Australia) was launched to provide KinCare’s after hours services and also began providing after hours services for other organisations.

In 1999 KinCare’s Community Aged Care Packages were extended to Western Sydney and KinCare began to expand its target group. Some younger people with a disability and carers began to approach KinCare for services. In response to these needs, KinCare successfully applied to implement a service targeting the needs of young carers in the ACT, and carers of people with dementia and behaviours of concern in parts of Sydney and regional NSW. KinCare also sought and achieved ISO9002 quality certification.

KinCare’s rapid growth required an increasing focus on management and administration. In 2000, Margaret commenced the process of establishing professional management and transitioning the organisation to the next generation.

Jason Howie was employed as KinCare’s General Manager. Jason had grown up with KinCare and shared Margaret’s commitment to quality care. As a CPA with experience in audit with one of Australia’s leading accounting firms, he also brought strong financial and management skills. Jason immediately commenced a process of investing in KinCare’s personnel, quality systems, management systems, and information technology systems. KinCare began taking a more active role in industry forums and showed leadership in areas such as quality management and risk management. In 2001, Jason was appointed Managing Director of the KinCare Group.

In 2004, KinCare made its first acquisition. A small provider in the ACT was taken over and this enabled KinCare to begin providing Veterans’ Home Care services, as well as to further expand its other services in the ACT. KinCare also commenced services in Melbourne and the NSW Mid North Coast and succeeded in registering National College Australia, KinCare’s training arm, as a Registered Training Organisation to deliver nationally recognised qualifications.

In 2005, KinCare Response was renamed TeleResponse Australia and had a full time Managing Director appointed. KinCare was also successful in its application to provide Extended Aged Care at Home services and commenced these services in Western Sydney. This enabled KinCare to provide services from basic care through to complex nursing care for people at home, enabling clients to stay with one service provider and consistent staff even if their needs changed.

In 2006 National College Australia expanded significantly, providing training not only for KinCare, but also a growing number of other private, church and non-profit organisations. KinCare expanded community aged care packages and extended aged care at home services into the ACT. KinCare extended Veterans’ Home Care services throughout its service delivery areas in NSW and Victoria. In addition, KinCare continued to target groups with special needs and introduced services specifically targeting Indigenous Australian’s for the first time.

Throughout KinCare’s history there has been a concerted effort to improve the quality of community care services and to make these available as widely as possible. KinCare has invested in research aimed at better understanding how to meet the needs of special needs groups and how to improve health and well-being for clients. The holistic approach that has emerged from this research is unique and of significant benefit to KinCare’s clients. KinCare has also partnered with government and church and charitable organisations to extend quality services to people who are socially or financially disadvantaged, people from diverse cultural and language backgrounds, people from indigenous backgrounds, people living in rural and remote areas, veterans and war widows, and people with dementia. KinCare’s service scope, approach to service delivery and geographic coverage is unique in community care in Australia.

For more information or to request services, please contact us.