The deployment of technologies within the aged care sector received a significant boost in the recent Federal Budget with nearly $10 billion allocated to support improved communications systems, telehealth, administration and process automation. With the threat of COVID not looking like it is going anywhere anytime soon, this funding couldn’t come at a better time as the aged care sector looks to improve levels of care and reduce transmission risks throughout aged care and community service facilities.
To support this even further, in 2017 the ACIITC (Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council) outlined a Technology Roadmap for the Aged Care Sector which included a number of recommendations. The most relevant of these recommendations was: “Invest in an Industry Innovation Fund to support integration of technology and innovation in the core business and associated processes of the aged care sector”.
In addition to the introduction of this vital funding, along with the ACIITC’s recommendations, the adoption of digital technologies is also increasingly being supported with the help of collaboration between aged care providers, end users, vendors, developers and carers. Just as importantly, the inclusion of family and friends in the tech decision making process has become particularly important for those in aged care because these family members are likely to be intimately involved in a patient’s health care.
One of the biggest aspects of tech adoption in the sector is process automation, the need to replace paper-based systems with electronic recording keeping. This can be done using the correct digital infrastructure, working to provide greater accuracy and faster access to client information. Additionally, the ability to access this information on a mobile device provides community care workers with access to this information whilst performing patient visits outside of specific care facilities. Technology can also be harnessed to improve operations, efficiency, security and ultimately, care for residents and clients.
Secondly, the need for thoughtfully designed user interfaces that can be tailored to specific caregiver needs promotes a more effective, intuitive, and enjoyable experience, while decreasing the need for extensive training. A 2017 research study demonstrated noticeable health care efficiency and ROI from the implementation of a collaborative health care platform based on user-centered design interfaces (Osborne et al., 2017). These positive results, coupled with improved communication tools, created engagement for caregivers, resulting in increased patient engagement as well.
In summary:
- The quality of Health and Community Care services could be vastly improved by introducing innovative technology into the industry.
- Process automation is an area that would greatly benefit from investment in the correct technology.
- The inclusion of end users in the creation of this technology, along with an intuitive user interface will increase the user experience and, therefore, overall ROI of the technology.
How does TOKN help the aged and community care industries address these challenges?
The TOKN Platform is a multi-tenant platform that is used to connect and build apps and workflows using your existing infrastructure and systems. The platform includes the capability to run at scale, with no hidden software or hardware infrastructure costs. TOKN sits above and connects with existing systems, allowing businesses to move data between critical business applications, without the associated costs of acquiring or maintaining additional software or custom code.
What this means is that introducing process automations and improved communications into a care based service can be made simpler, quicker and at a lower cost, without causing any disruption to the workforce. With the ability to create custom solutions which can include scheduling, broadcast messaging, timesheeting and more, the ability to create a solution that will suit each individual aged and community care service is much easier.
To find out more about how we have already done this for other Community Care Services, check out our case studies here or get in contact here!
Discover more here.