industry & reform
Hope ahead
Building an
aged care
sector that’s
fit for purpose
in 2020 and
beyond.
By Craig Porte
T
his will be a big year for the aged
care sector. Further scrutiny will
come in the form of the continued
aged care royal commission’s final report
in November. What is less likely to make
headlines are some of the more subtle but
no less critical changes we expect to see
as a result of the commission and other
longstanding challenges.
There’s increasing recognition that we
must stretch each dollar going into the
sector further. We need a sector that is
resilient and able to meet the demands
of today and the future in the face of
sometimes unpredictable funding. Not
only is aged care currently underfunded,
but the aged population is growing – in
2017, 15 per cent of Australians were aged
65 or older – and forecast to reach 22 per
cent by 2057.
In 2020, I expect the following trends to
come to the fore, as the aged care sector
works to get in shape.
procedures, and people travelling back
and forth between the office and clients
to input data. A new service often results
in a new team with all the overheads of
cars, offices and disjointed systems, when
technology could enable the existing team
to do the work just as effectively.
We see far too much paper being moved
around. One organisation I’m aware of
was physically carrying client documents
between three different levels of their
building to get sign-off; another was
regularly shipping client documents to sites
around the state. This is not only inefficient
but risks data security and loss.
Currently, most providers in the market
are at the lower end of the preparedness
scale when it comes to cloud technology.
About 50 per cent have no client
management system in place and have
quite a way to go to get their houses
in order.
There is, however, clearer understanding
than ever that technology, and cloud in
particular, is the way to achieve improved
cost-effectiveness and quality of care
in the sector. Not only will cloud-based
client management systems help ensure
information is captured and shared with the
right people, it can also reduce overheads
by removing the need for IT departments,
drive automation and allow greater access
to data to improve processes around
payroll, client services and compliance.
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF
TRANSFORMATION APPLICATIONS ABOUND
The aged care sector is characterised by
aged approaches to service provision and
administration, including a lot of manual
data entry into spreadsheets, manual For the average individual, applications are
old hat. We use them for practically every
purpose under the sun, from ordering food
to finding romance. What we expect to
14 agedcareinsite.com.au
come to the fore in 2020 is care workers
tapping into the latest applications to
improve the service they can provide to
their clients.
Apps will help workers access critical
client information on the move, ensuring
they’re able to deliver a higher quality
service. By accessing updates without
having to return to the office, they will
incur less cost and spend more time face
to face with clients.
We anticipate that 2020 will be
down‑streamed to care workers who
will increasingly use apps to log time and
attendance, access training materials,
book leave and ensure their qualifications
and compliance are up to date.
We will also see an increasing number
of aged care organisations setting up
their clients with apps that will allow them
to have input into their care plans and
feedback on service quality.
This type of innovation will play a critical
and much-needed role in improving
standards in the sector.
BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE (BYOD)
The debate will continue around whether
these apps should be deployed on care
workers’ own devices or on company
devices. There’s a clear incentive to
push towards BYOD, as this will reduce
overheads for providers and improve
technology uptake.
Yet security remains a challenge in 2020.
In this sector, there’s clearly a lot that could
go wrong if client information is lost or
stolen – it can create not only a service
issue but also an enormous privacy breach.
While we anticipate BYOD will be the way
to go, company devices will likely dominate
until security concerns can be resolved.
For providers who don’t find ways
to stretch the care dollar, there’ll be a
further deterioration in their capacity to
deliver services to communities in 2020.
Particularly in rural areas, where there
is already a large disparity in access to
quality care.
We hope the government will step up
to the plate and provide more substantial
funding to the sector, particularly in rural
and remote areas – it’s crucial not only for
care, but also the technological upgrades
that will enable this critical care to be
delivered more efficiently and sustainably
going forward. ■
Craig Porte is managing director of
Civica Care.