industry & policy
Better tools, better quality
Australia’s aged-care sector must
look at new approaches to keep
pace with higher expectations
for process and compliance.
By Ivan Seselj
sector. Its capacity to respond is being
limited by current business models, homes
operating at full or nearly full capacity
and a general shortage in the residential
aged-care workforce”.
dYnaMic, not static
B
ound by rigorous standards to
safeguard the wellbeing of our older
citizens, Australia’s aged-care
providers are looking to technology
platforms to manage and communicate the
processes required to meet the protocols
of health and community care. Beyond
compliance-related record keeping, they
are also discovering how to turn good
ideas into everyday practice – the process
of continuous improvement.
Operators in the aged-care industry
are driven to run lean organisations in
an increasingly competitive industry.
They share the common challenges of
capturing, sharing and maintaining process
information under a comp lex regulatory
regime. The ability to manage the
implementation of new systems and the
communication of essential information
is made even more difficult by aged care’s
requirements for large numbers of staff,
20 agedcareinsite.com.au
many of whom are shift workers. And as
approved providers increasingly require
scale to remain viable, they often own
multiple facilities across the country,
adding more complexity.
The pressure on the sector, and the
opportunities open to it, are seen clearly in
the government’s Intergenerational Report
2010, which predicted the number of
aged-care recipients – in both residential
facilities and their own homes – is to
increase over the next 40 years by about
150 per cent – to 2.5 million people,
or 8 per cent of the population. It also
estimated that by 2050, 4.9 per cent of the
Australian workforce would be employed in
the delivery of aged care.
The Australian National Audit Office
has found that the “ageing population,
increasing longevity and greater diversity
in the care expectations and preferences
of residents are placing pressure on the
The federal accreditation program
framework places a strong emphasis on
providers accepting responsibility for
continuous service improvement. Services
need to be developed and delivered faster,
and at a higher quality and lower cost.
As requirements build on the sector to
maintain standards while operating leaner
organisations, there is a constant search
for ways to reduce the use of resources,
eliminate waste, work smarter and
improve efficiency.
The four Residential Accreditation
Standards of the Australian Aged Care
Quality Agency detail how the sector
is to manage: systems, staffing and
organisational development; health and
personal care; care recipient lifestyle; and
physical environment and safety systems.
These quality standards demand proof
that process information has been made
available to employees consistently across
the organisation. Follow-up audits ensure
processes are being implemented.