Aged and community care providers face many challenges which may be overcome by smart use of technology.

1. Personalised Care Plans: Care management systems support personalised care plans tailored to each person's unique needs. Artificial intelligence can enhance this, by analysing historical data to predict health risks and recommend preventive measures.
2. Care Coordination: In community care settings, multiple providers may be involved in a person's care. Technology can enhance care coordination by enabling secure data sharing among different providers. Shared care plans and communication tools ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding the person's needs and progress.
3. Remote Monitoring and Communication: Care providers often work with elderly people who may have mobility limitations. Technology can facilitate remote monitoring through wearable devices, sensors, and telehealth platforms. These tools allow providers to track vital signs, detect falls, and communicate with people virtually. For instance, wearable devices can alert care providers if a person's heart rate or blood pressure exceeds safe levels, enabling timely intervention.
4. Medication Management: Elderly people often take multiple medications, and adherence can be challenging. Technology can assist by sending medication reminders via mobile apps or smart pill dispensers. Electronic health records can provide a comprehensive view of a person's medication history, reducing the risk of adverse drug interactions. Additionally, software systems can send prescription information directly from doctors to pharmacists, reducing errors and improving efficiency of medication dispensing.
5. Emotional Well-Being and Social Isolation: Loneliness and anxiety are common among older adults. Virtual reality experiences, reminiscence therapy apps, and mental health chatbots can provide emotional support. Technology can also be used to offer virtual socialisation opportunities. Video calls, online communities, and social media platforms allow seniors to connect with family, friends, and peers. Care providers can encourage and facilitate these interactions. Additionally, telecounselling sessions allow seniors to connect with mental health professionals from home.
6. Fall Detection and Prevention: Falls are a significant concern for older adults. Wearable devices equipped with fall detection algorithms can automatically alert family members, care providers or emergency services if a fall occurs. Additionally, smart home sensors can identify potential hazards (such as cluttered pathways) and prompt preventive actions.
7. Cognitive Support: Technology can assist care providers in managing people with cognitive impairments (e.g., dementia). Apps and digital tools can provide memory aids, visual cues, and reminders for daily tasks. Virtual reality experiences may also improve cognitive function and reduce anxiety.
8. Training and Education: Continuous professional development is essential for care providers. Online training modules, webinars and e-learning platforms offer convenient ways to enhance skills and stay updated on best practices. Virtual simulations can provide realistic scenarios for practicing caregiving techniques.
9. Safety and Security: Smart home devices, such as motion sensors and doorbell cameras, enhance safety for seniors living independently. These technologies can alert care providers or family members if unusual activity is detected (e.g., prolonged inactivity or a door left open). Safety of care workers can also be enhanced with technology, for example providing alerts about potential hazards when a care worker is visiting a person in their home.

ITAC conference - Gold Coast, March 2024

I attended the Innovation & Technology Across Care (ITAC) 2024 conference in the Gold Coast in March to research the latest research and technology available for aged and community care providers. The conference included inspirational keynote speakers, an awards dinner which celebrated success and a large expo of vendors of technology for the aged care industry.

A list of all the vendors who were at the ITAC expo is included at the end of this blog post. I’ve included the contact details of all the sales people I spoke with, so that you can get in touch with them directly if you’d like to learn more about how they might help you.

Interactive robot

The founder of Andromeda, Grace Brown, was invited to ITAC 2024 to showcase the Abi robot, which has been deployed in children's health centres and residential aged care facilities in Melbourne.

I first met with Grace Brown, the founder of Andromeda, at the 2022 ITAC conference. At this point she’d developed a prototype of their robot call Abi (pictured above).Abi had been trained to use vision recognition to identify each person it interacted with, remembering previous conversations to provide a personalised experience, to be a companion in aged care residential facilities. Check out my Technology for Aged Care blog post from 2022 to see a picture of the early prototype of Abi, at the time she was just a skeleton!

The latest version of Abi has audio input and video input from multiple cameras to give her spacial awareness. She responds to prompts with speech and actions, with the intention of entertaining and engaging people. Abi is a big hit in children’s health centres, and brings out the inner child in aged care settings! The version displayed at the conference even had a bubble dispenser at the end of one arm, which is a lot of fun, check out the video!

Service robots

Robots can do more than entertain, they can also be deployed as efficient service robots. Vintech were showcasing robots developed for the hospitality industry, which could be very useful for in health and aged care facilities.

While the robots are built for service, the animated makes them fun to see as they move around, making themselves useful for delivery of foods and medicines, and for cleaning.

A specific example that would be beneficial is secure delivery of medicine in the robot which has a cabinet that can be locked and unlocked using a PIN code. This robot can call a lift to go to another floor in a facility, cannot be moved while in the lift, and which messages staff when it arrives at a secure area to come and let it in.

Digital Transformation

The plenary session I found most informative and interesting was a presentation by Daniel Pettman, the Chief Information Officer of BaptistCare.

BaptistCare is n 80 year old organisation which historically has been a provider of residential aged care, now also providing retirement village living, as well as home and community care.

Daniel has been taking BaptistCare on a journey of digital transformation since 2018, and he said quite aptly that “Digital transformation is essential, it’s difficult and it doesn’t ever end.”

He has been managing the digital transformation in three stages :

1. Digital foundation – vision and strategy, digital architecture, building blocks. The intention of this first stage is to stabilise the business.
2. Digital integration – automation, data and analytics, cyber and risk. The intention of this stage is to grow the business.
3. Digital innovation – AI & emerging technologies, partnerships, business capabilities. This final stage is intended to future proof the business.

Digital transformation requires changes to systems and the organisation’s culture, so its success relies on executive management and board sponsorship. Technology has to be a strategic enabler to deliver the best experience for customers and employees, to drive business excellence.

When the digital foundation architecture was envisioned in 2018, it included a minimal number of systems which would be brought together onto a single Microsoft platform to enable full integration of systems and data. This building block enables the integration stage of digital transformation, to extract value from integrated data sources. Daniel presented the Gartner analytic value escalator chart, which illustrates the journey towards using data for predictive and prescriptive analytics.

BaptistCare are now at the digital innovation stage of their digital transformation journey, where the organisation can look towards fun and exciting emerging technologies and use of artificial intelligence in its systems.

For example, they have deployed a JIBO robot, which can scan facial expressions and sense emotions of people it encounters. JIBO interacts in a style that suits each person, for some it’s very formal, for others it communicates in a more casual and jokey style.

Daniel finally shared some tips and traps, these are the things that he wished he knew 6 years ago when embarking on the digital transformation journey.

• There are no IT projects, there are only business projects – partnerships and governance at the senior level is key.
• Organisational and key staff continuity is a massive advantage for such a large-scale transformation.
• Need to be agile in your approach – technology moves fast and reform in the aged care sector has been ongoing, there are times when you must adjust.
• Good change management is key in the workforce adapting to digital transformation.
• Vendors can be difficult and need to be managed tightly.

Are you planning a technology transformation?

Are you planning on a technology transformation for your organisation? It can be a long and difficult process, as Daniel from BaptistCare said, digital transformation is essential, it’s difficult and it doesn’t ever end!

If you feel overwhelmed by technology, with 35 years of experience in the information technology industry, and many years of experience on boards of directors, I am perfectly placed to guide you through what’s best for your business when it comes to strategic planning.

If you’d like to talk further about anything I’ve written about, get in contact with me today, I’m always happy to meet and have a chat over a coffee.

ITAC conference expo vendors

The ITAC expo hall was full of interesting technology vendors, not all of whom I was able to meet. Here are the vendors that I spoke with and their contact details (with their permission), so that you can get in touch with them directly if you’d like to learn more about how they might help you.

Care management software

AlayaCare

AlayaCare provides end to end aged and disability care software. Functions include scheduling coordination, support worker management, mobile solution, client health record, secure messaging, billing and reporting. New visit optimiser module uses AI to provide care workers with meaningful, up to date information about clients when they are arriving for a visit.

Michelle Perkinson, Business Development Manager
Phone: 0406 187 707 Email: michelle.perkinson@alayacare.com Website: https://alayacare.com/

Carer Manager Plus and Care Collaborator

Carer Manager Plus is a cloud-based solution designed for Home Care Providers. It combines functions such as intelligent rostering, HCP/NDIS management, and award interpretation and recently announced its partnership with onboarding platform, Care Collaborator. Care Collaborator makes easy work out of assessments through its user-friendly interface and manages the process from setting up client Care Plans and individualised budgets to generating the Home Care Agreement for on-the spot signature.

Jodie Caspar, Business Development Manager
Phone: 0407 807 355 Email: jodie@carermanagerplus.com.au Website: https://carecollaborator.com.au/

Debra Baxter, Founder
Phone: 0438 020 728 Email: Debra@carecollaborator.com.au Website: https://carecollaborator.com.au/

Carevision

Care management software for home care, disability and retirement living. Carevision includes client & case management, scheduling & rostering, billing & claiming, HR & compliance, award interpretation & payroll, forms & workflows, collaboration & communication.

David Fairbairn, Sales Manager
Phone: 0412 620 447 Email: david@carevision.com.au Website: https://carevision.com/

Ezihealth

The Ezihealth platform provides health care software for clinical assessments, rostering and payroll, compliance and risk management, meals management, activities, transport and reporting.

Julie-Anne Grange, Sales & Solutions Manager
Phone: 0483 959 855 Email: carl@ezihealth.com.au Website: https://www.ezihealth.com.au/

LeeCare

Aged care software platform which includes modules for community, care workers, safety, medication management, care plans and finances. Used by more than 900+ Residential Aged Care providers and Retirement Villages across Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.

Dr Caroline Lee, founder
Phone: (03) 9339 6888 Email: enquiries@leecare.com.au Website: https://www.leecare.com.au/

The Lookout Way

The Lookout Way is a software system that is exclusively for community care management. Modules include care management, rostering, remote care monitoring, claims & statements, collaboration and reporting.

Sian Frost, Growth Specialist (Aged Care)
Phone: 0455 839 300 Email: sian@thelookoutway.com Website: https://thelookoutway.com/

Management advantage

Residential aged care software, with modules for administration, clinical care, process management, communication, workforce management, finance, business intelligence reporting and integration with other software solutions.

Ben Sturzaker, General Manager
Phone: 0413 666 008 Email: ben.sturzaker@manad.com.au Website: https://manad.com.au/

Nightingale CRM

Nightingale is client and resource management software, for community care providers. It includes functionality for smart rostering, shift bidding and award interpretation. There is a mobile app for the software available for both clients and staff.

Gary Jamieson, National Sales Manager
Phone: 0432 612 885 Email: gary.jamieson@nightingalesoftware.com.au Website: https://www.nightingalesoftware.com.au/

Person centred software

Person Centred Software provides a suite of integrated software solutions for aged and disability care. This includes care planning, maintenance & asset management, wellbeing & activities platform and nurse-call messaging.

Shona Dudley, National Operations Manager Australia and New Zealand
Phone: 0499 212 910 Email: s.dudley@personcentredsoftware.com Websites: https://personcentredsoftware.com/ and https://centrimlife.com.au/

Sandwai

Sandwai is a home care and disability care software solution that connects service providers, workers, clients and families. It includes functions to manage scheduling, claiming, reporting and communication through smart workflows that match client preferences.

Rachael Walter, Manager of Product & Industry
Phone: 0424 263 454 Email: rachael.walter@sandwai.com.au Website: https://www.sandwai.com.au/

Telstra Health

Telstra Health provides a range of health care software solutions for hospitals, community health, virtual care, pharmacy management and residential aged care providers.

Tom Moody, Business Development Manager
Email: tom.moody@health.telstra.com Website: https://www.telstrahealth.com/

Medication management software

BestMed

Medication management software, integrates directly with pharmacies, reduces prescription, dispensing errors.

Amir Sinanovic, Director of Sales
Phone: 0427 685 340 Email: amirs@bestmed.com.au Website: https://www.bestmed.com.au/

Monitoring devices and software

Eevi Care

Eevi provide personal medical alarm systems, including wearables such as pendants, sensors and watches. These are managed using a cloud-based communications system for on-site resident centred care.

Sorin Harpa, Business Development Manager
Phone: 0421 114 222 Email: sorin.harpa@eevi.life Website: https://eevi.life/

Lenexa Medical

Mattress that monitors position of person, to monitor and manage pressure injury care. Send alerts when person needs to be turned, when about to stand up if at risk of falls. Tried to push me into setting up an appointment, I played along with QR code but didn't follow through.

Ajit Ravindran, CEO
Phone: 0414 854 051 Email: ajit@lenexamedical.com Website: https://lenexamedical.com/

Risk management and compliance software

IonMy

ionMy is a software solution for Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance, which encompasses Accreditation, Quality, and HR components, developed for organisations operating in the aged, community, and disability care sectors.

Sonja Bernhardt, Founder
Phone: 1300 659 506 Email: sales@ionmy.com.au Website: https://ionmy.info/

Risk Teq

Riskteq is designed to manage the key risks aged care providers face, including proactively preventing incidents, and responding effectively to incidents when they do occur. This included serious incident response, and preventative activities like resident risk assessments, staff skills and competency management, asset maintenance planning and much more.

Simon Yates, Sales Director
Phone: 0419 595 091 Email: simon.yates@synateq.com Website: https://www.riskteq.com/

Facility/property management software

Centrim Life

Operations management & community engagement software for residential aged care and retirement living. Cloud-based web & mobile software suite which can be used by consumers, family members & staff for communications, announcements, lifestyle management, maintenance, dining, feedback, and quality improvement.

Person centred software is the Australian reseller of Centrim Life.

Shona Dudley, National Operations Manager Australia and New Zealand
Phone: 0499 212 910 Email: s.dudley@personcentredsoftware.com Websites: https://personcentredsoftware.com/ and https://centrimlife.com.au/

Robotics

Andromeda - Abi Robot

Abi robot has been deployed in children's health centres and residential aged care facilities in Melbourne. Abi has audio input and video input from multiple cameras to give her spacial awareness. She responds to prompts with speech and actions, with the intention of entertaining and engaging people.

Grace Brown, Founder & CEO
Phone: +1 617 938 9697 Email: abi@dromeda.com.au Website: https://dromeda.com.au/

Vintech – service robots

Vintech are specialists in the supply, installation and service of accommodation specific products. Including electronic locks and locking systems, energy saving devices, in-room digital safes and energy efficient mini bars. At ITAC they were promoting hospitality robots for use in aged care facilities, for delivery of foods and medicines, and for cleaning.

Gidon Sattinger, Founder, CEO & Managing Director
Phone: 0416 210 216 Email: gidon@vintech.com.au Website: https://vintech.com.au/