About the Report

Impossible Task: Workers’ Views on the Rising Demands of Aged Care is the third of CompliSpace’s annual aged care workforce reports. This year’s report is based on a national survey of 1,110 aged care workers representing more than 300 services (or approximately 11% of the 2,704 services operating in Australia as at 30 June 2021).

The survey aimed to better understand the challenges and needs of Australian aged care workers in relation to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Royal Commission), Aged Care Quality Standards, COVID-19, wages and law reforms.

Use of Technology: Key Findings

• Many in the industry (47%) have adopted new technologies in the past year to make it easier to manage increasing regulatory burdens.
• Experiences with new technology are mixed, with 54% of aged care workers reporting that it has improved the quality and efficiency of their work, 31% saying that it has had no effect and 15% saying that it has harmed quality and efficiency.
• The take-up of new technology by aged care workers varies across Australia, with Canberrans most likely to have done so (75%), followed by Victorians (49%), Western Australians (48%) and South Australians (48%).
• Tasmania is lagging, with 40% of operators adopting new technology in the last 12 months to deal with their compliance obligations.
• Compared with 2021, around 15% fewer workers have adopting new technology to deal with their compliance obligations. Of those who have adopted new technology, 5% fewer see it as a benefit.
  
  

What Kinds of New Technology Are Being Used?

In response to the workforce survey, workers listed new systems and apps that they were using for a variety of purposes, including:

• learning systems for online training
• iPads for making and sharing progress notes
• medication management systems
• e-rostering and payroll systems
• mobile-accessible forms for staff to report COVID-19 and other health status before starting work
• systems to enable some staff to work from home
• systems for managing and recording COVID-19 testing.

Needs and Challenges

As the Aged Care Workforce Report revealed, workloads for aged care staff continue to increase:

• 94% of workers experienced an increased workload due to COVID-19 regulations in the last year.
• 85% of workers experienced an increased workload due to the introduction of the 2019 Aged Care Quality Standards.
• These numbers were already high in 2021, with 85% of workers reporting increased workloads due to COVID-19 regulations and 74% reporting increased workloads due to the Aged Care Quality Standards. In 2022, both numbers jumped by 10%.

Now more than ever, aged care workers need tools to help them manage an increasing barrage of paperwork. As one worker said, “Before we implemented a covid screening tool, covid screening sheets for each resident took a long time to fill in and we spent hours photocopying and scanning.”

Many workers acknowledged that new technology “improved quality and efficiency” but felt that they lacked the resources to obtain and properly implement it.

Improving the Use of Technology in Aged Care Homes

Even with limited resources you can take steps to adopt the technology that you need to improve quality and efficiency. Two things that aged care providers can do right now are:

• explore the grant opportunities provided by the Department of Health and Aged Care to help providers improve their sustainability and capability
• adopt an Electronic National Residential Medication Chart (eNRMC) product. The Australian Government is currently offering grants to aged care homes to help defray the costs associated with implementing an eNRMC product, such as software and hardware costs, change management processes and staff training. For more information visit Grant Connect.

Other more general tips for improving the use of technology were set out in the recent RMIT-Cisco Health Transformation Lab report on Transforming Aged Care through the use of technology. The Report made four key recommendations regarding how technology can be used to improve aged care outcomes, with an emphasis on the benefits of a deeper, system-wide adoption of technology:

1. Technology should be used to improve connection – between aged care users and their community, carers, and aged care spaces. Video-calling tools, telehealth services, digital record keeping and digital workforce management solutions (such as online learning systems and the ACWIC Workforce Planning Tool) are some key ways of doing this.
2. Technology should be explored as an option when making any new investment decision – doing so can greatly enhance operational efficiency in the long term. This can include the automation of manual tasks, such as data collection and safety monitoring using smart devices or other tools.
3. Technology should be secure – this is important to maintain trust in digital systems. Providers should carefully consider how they manage their cyber security, with more members of their community and the industry itself shifting towards a greater use of technology.
4. Technology should be innovative – remaining open-minded and bringing together people with different perspectives can help to generate better ways of working. This may be supported through industry innovation programs such as those from the Aged Care Centre for Growth and Translational Research.
   

Request Your Copy

CompliSpace’s Aged Care Workforce Report, Impossible Task: Workers' Views on the Rising Demands of Aged Care, is now available for download. To see the Report’s full findings, visit complispace.com.au/workforce-report-2022.