How can innovation help overcome new challenges in our Aged Care homes?
The Royal Commission on the Quality and Safety of Aged Care has presented new challenges for the Aged Care sector. Minister Anika Wells stated that her Ministry has taken on the responsibility of organizing the work of registered nurses in each facility to care for the elderly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Even without these ambitious plans, the National Skills Commission's study of the care workforce found that around 100,000 care workers will be missing in Australia by 2027-28.
Reforms to working conditions in this area are long overdue. So most recently, the Fair Work Commission achieved a 15% wage increase for caregivers. The Workplace Minister, Tony Burke, said it was a step in the right direction.
"Aged care work is hard work – but it's undervalued work." Tony Burke.
The new salary burden and the Government's plans to increase and train qualified staff are placing an additional burden on aged care providers, who are forced to implement structural changes and look for new ways to optimize work processes but not at the expense of quality.
Improvements are required from front-line workers who directly contact and care for the elderly and support staff, such as cleaners who disinfect and sanitize surfaces. This is especially true in the post-COVID period when many older people are still at risk. Many Aged Care Service Providers are optimizing specifically in the cleaning and disinfection sector, introducing new innovative solutions into the standard process.
According to The Interclean Group, Providers face challenges such as scheduling, staff allocation, monitoring quality, prioritization issues, reporting and handling big data, audit compliance, and additional anti-COVID disinfection.
Justin Wilshaw, head of Hospitality and lifestyle at Estia Health, believes innovation in Aged Care should be a total solution, not just a local issue.
"We have 68 nursing homes across Australia and have been faced with the challenge of finding an effective cleaning control model tailored to the individual needs of our residents for whom proper surface treatment is critical. We knew we couldn't do without a single digital system, and we chose iClean as the right solution," Wilshaw said.
According to Bill Bassett, Group Managing Director of Interclean Group, implementing the digital iClean system optimizes the work of one cleaner by 20-30%. It helps supervisors to plan and manage cleaning outcomes efficiently and effectively.
"iClean is a big data application that can be monitored and adjusted in real-time, but it is only part of a comprehensive IMS system. We provide cleaning trolleys with a set of microfiber tools and materials, equip them with a tablet with iClean installed and provide full training for employees and managers. This is a universal combination designed to improve service not only in Aged Care but also in hospitals," he said.
But innovation at Aged Care isn't limited to cleaning. Organized by a national network of providers, researchers, consumer groups, investors and government agencies in the aged care sector, the innovAGEING National Awards annually reward winners for the best innovative solutions in Aged Care. This is how the Benetas project received this year's prize for developing an application for the temporary recruitment of caregivers. The Ausmed Education platform was also awarded for a practical training and onboarding program for healthcare professionals that help reduce costs for employers.
"This is an urgent and timely topic, and it's great to see sector innovators putting their smarts to address workforce matters," Head of innovAGEING Merlin Kong said.
Other projects were related to mobile applications that provide direct digital communication between older people and other members of society, such as psychologists, trainers, nutritionists, gardeners and cooks, supporting the hobbies and leisure of more senior citizens.
"We want innovative service and product-oriented ideas to meet the needs of older Australians." Anika Wells.
Under the right conditions, this mission is quite feasible, especially since the market has long been ready to offer its services in the related areas of recruitment and training of personnel, direct digital communications or cleaning.