Reinventing the system

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the shortage of aged care workers in Australia that has been ongoing since at least 2016.

One-fifth of aged care workers recently said they planned to resign due to ‘hopelessness’ spurred by burnout from over two years of battling COVID-19 breakouts in aged care homes — nearly 46% of all homes nationwide had an outbreak as recently as March 2022. This further accelerates the exodus and looming workforce crisis.

According to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), the aged care sector could face a shortage of at least 110,000 workers in the next decade.

As the industry struggles to find certified staff to support more than one million Australians who need aged care, what is clear is that we must rethink aged care as a profession. We need to listen to what aged care workers are saying and provide them with more support, structure and career opportunities to holistically address this critical shortfall in the sector.

Leveraging technology to plug the gaps

Across the aged care industry, workers often cite low pay, long working hours and a lack of career development pathways as some of their top challenges. To add to that, the new recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which include stipulations such as increasing the minimum number of minutes spent with each residential aged care resident from 20 to 200 a day, are placing added stress on the system. Supporting facilities and teams will face additional pressures to juggle these requirements, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

These longstanding, multifaceted problems require innovative solutions to address. Many of the answers almost certainly lie in leveraging technology, whose potential for change and disruption has been accelerated since the pandemic. For instance, artificial intelligence and mobile apps could streamline a significant amount of admin work such as filing patient data. This would allow workers to focus on what they do best — delivering quality care.

Technology could also set the stage for a redefinition of the working structure and processes of the aged care sector. Advancements in healthtech have led to the rise of digital platforms with intelligent matching engines, which can match care professionals with the patients who most need their expertise. Not only does this make it possible for care professionals to serve a wider pool of patients instead of being limited to traditional care facilities, but it also allows them to set their own hours and routes for maximum flexibility.

Empowerment for a better care ecosystem

The importance of job flexibility cannot be underestimated, especially in an industry prone to high burnout such as aged care. Aged care workers need to be able to earn a competitive salary that is commensurate with their hours and effort. They also need more autonomy to manage their work around their personal lives. To enable them to consider a career in aged care sustainable for the long term, we must empower them — mentally, physically and financially.

This support can be expanded beyond the individual to positively impact care organisations. Many aged care facilities are struggling with staffing and rostering challenges for their support workers — further compounded by the proposed industry reforms. But with healthtech platforms enabling them to tap into a vetted pool of certified care professionals on-demand, it is now much easier for them to adapt to evolving requirements — such as filling shortfalls in expanded rosters at short notice without sacrificing care availability or quality.

Finally, empowering aged care workers also benefits the patients themselves. Just as technology enables workers to choose their work preferences, patients can also choose when, where and how they prefer to receive their care. Well-cared-for workers will also be able to deliver a higher quality of care to patients without risking burnout. Ultimately, patients and workers can enjoy better peace of mind and have a more productive care relationship.

A sustainable way forward

Measures such as retention payments and a surge workforce from the Australian Defence Force are a step in the right direction, but they are only stopgap solutions that will not stem the aged care workforce attrition in the long term. More is needed to support aged care professionals so that a career in this sector remains tenable for them, such as providing better job flexibility, autonomy and chances for progression.

With Australia expected to hit around four million people aged over 65 this year, and that growth anticipated to accelerate in the next decade, the demand for care is only going to increase exponentially. There is an urgent need to proactively address the current issues within the industry to prepare for future challenges. Homage is ready to be part of the solution — both for our elderly Australians and the dedicated care professionals who take care of them.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Lumos sp