Meet the team
Victoria Oakden
Director
Victoria is the Director of Oakden, an innovative business that provides specialised advice and services to the community, disability and aged care sectors. A registered nurse with over 25 years’ experience, Victoria worked for over a decade as a Registered Quality Assessor for the government body now known as the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC).
As a Clinical Risk Manager and Clinical Incident Review Coordinator, Victoria has worked with public, private and not-for-profit aged care organisations, including some with a significant number of Indigenous stakeholders. Her high-level clinical expertise complements her role as a respected industry adviser and trainer in incident reporting and management, auditing and quality assurance, continuous improvement, service user feedback, performance appraisal, and policy review and development.
Victoria provides direct support to residential aged care services throughout NSW in clinical leadership, quality systems and compliance. She is a Nurse Advisor and specialist trainer with Hartley Lifecare, a major disability service provider in the ACT, and the Health Support Advisor with Valmar Disability Support Services.
Since 2015, Victoria has been appointed as Official Visitor to NSW jails, representing and directly reporting to the Inspector of Custodial Services, Commissioner for Corrective Services and Minister for Corrective Services.
Passionate about ‘giving back’ to the community, Victoria is a Board Director for Garden Village Port Macquarie and is on the Clinical Governance sub-committee. Garden Village is a large aged care service providing residential aged care, home care and a retirement village. She is also on the YWCA Canberra’s Audit and Risk Committee.
Victoria is a Justice of the Peace in NSW
Joan Rafferty
Aged Care Specialist and Registered Nurse
Joan is a registered nurse and Lead Auditor (QMS) with 20 years’ management experience in aged and community care. She has experience working with indigenous communities around the world, including HIV treatment and prevention in Zambia, researching lead poisoning in indigenous communities in Alberta Canada, reviewing disability care for an NGO in PNG. More recently, she has worked in community care with Indigenous communities on the Mid North Coast of NSW.
Joan is an experienced assessor and accreditation specialist, having worked for the government body now known as the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) for 16 years. She provides expert advice to aged care providers in the provision of quality care, as well as in environmental and physical design in dementia care.
Joan supports aged care providers in clinical and operational compliance. She is also a Board Director for Garden Village Port Macquarie.
Kim Short
Aged Care Specialist/Quality Auditor and Advisor
Kim has over 20 years of experience in the aged care industry, working with the governing body now known as the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC), the Department of Health and Ageing (DHA), the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Aged and Community Services Australia (ASCA) and multiple aged care providers.
In her work with ACQSC, Kim reviewed non-compliances in residential aged care facilities across Australia. She has established systems and monitored the performance of aged care providers as well as implementing quality systems, in urban, regional and rural locations. Committed to working with aged care approved providers to strengthen their quality systems, Kim regularly supports homes, managing them toward compliance with aged care standards.
Kim has hands-on experience with compliance and building capacity in indigenous aged care services. As Director, Quality Team for the Benevolent Society, she worked with Aboriginal elders in the Tamworth area to improve the care services provided to their community.
Nick Driver
Specialist Financial Consultant
Nick has in excess of 30 years’ experience in the areas of financial investigations, litigation and forensic accounting as well as auditing.
Prior to commencing his own practice, he held the position of Director Corporate Finance with Ernst & Young (Newcastle and Brisbane offices) and had earlier been a Senior Manager with Hall Chadwick. At both firms his specialisations were audit and financial investigations.
He has appeared in various courts as an expert witness on many occasions and has assisted law enforcement agencies with a range of financial investigations and enquiries in both civil and criminal matters, including the NSW Police, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Nick assists Oakden when there is a financial component of project assistance, as well as audit functions and valuations. He has investigated financial impacts for various clients. As the principal of Driver Accounting, Nick has undertaken reviews of business plans /budgets and has provided business valuation opinions to Indigenous Business Australia (IBA), to assist IBA in funding the acquisition of businesses in the Whitton- Griffith area NSW by indigenous entities.
Gillian Driver
Specialist Consultant (Financial)
Gillian has over twenty years’ experience in trust account management, financial investigations and auditing. A director at Driver Accounting since 2008, Gillian has extensive experience in auditing small to medium financial institutions, with particular expertise in trust account management in real estate, incorporated associations and accounting practices.
Prior to becoming a director at Driver Accounting, Gillian worked as an accountant in general practice, preparing financial statements for small business and undertaking taxation work.
Geoff Oliver
Specialist Consultant
Geoff provides consultancy and quality audit services in partnership with Oakden when required on a joint project. He works with training organisations across a broad range of industries including film and television, aged and disability support to ensure they have the policies, procedures, training and assessment resources that best meet the requirements of the organisation and the learner. Geoff has a strong commitment that it is essential when developing policies, processes and resources for a quality system that all documents reflect the way the organisation will operate.
Geoff’s focus ensures that compliance with standards and regulatory requirements ensures the improvements are focused on good practice, giving the best possible outcome for the organisation and the learner.
Geoff supports providers and training organisations who have received adverse findings through a regulatory audit, helps them prepare for an audit, and develops training resources. He works closely with Oakden on joint projects when required, is a Lead Auditor uses his vast experience with audit and compliance to meet a variety of quality standards.
Fran Stevens
Training & Consultancy
Shraddha Pandey
Enrolled Nurse and Aged Care / Disability Consultant
Shraddha brings with her high level experience in writing clinical documentation, client assessment and care planning. Shradda assists the senior consultants in providing assistance to providers to improve systems, practices and processes.
Administration
Team
Donna works at Oakden every Friday morning with her support worker. Donna completes some really important work within the office including shredding, laminating, tidying up our training room, collecting parcels and mail from reception and watering all the plants. Donna loves her job and looks forward to her work each week.