The Information Age Meets The Golden Years

By Duncan Campbell-Avenell

1MG spoke with Peter Fuller, Managing Director of Micro Focus Australia and New Zealand, about what the IT industry is doing in digitalization of Australia’s aged care sector.

When the tsunami of COVID-19 crashed, uninvited, onto Australia’s shores, industries of all stripes were swept up in its destructive wake. But in the subsequent months, few confronted the same life-or-death stakes as the aged care sector, caring for those most vulnerable to the virus. 

Some providers rose to the challenge better than others. Troubling issues in the for-profit segment are coming to light under the glare of the Royal Commission into Aged Care, forcing an overdue reckoning for those private operators that have not been toeing the line. 

It’ll be a shame if the ensuing reputational damage tarnishes the industry at large, because good-news aged care stories do exist, if you know where to find them. For example, the story of how the technology and IT industries helped aged care facilities through the COVID crisis, and, more broadly, how leaders from those cutting-edge fields are increasingly helping to shape a brighter future in which technology will improve older Australians’ quality of life. 

A case in point is MannaCare, a not-for-profit aged care facility headquartered in Doncaster, Melbourne. The largely government-funded organisation is owned by the Manningham community and steered by a diverse board of seasoned corporate leaders, working on a pro bono basis. 

MannaCare can accommodate around 150 live-in residents in its two residential facilities (one is for those who are mobile but require assisted living, the other for those with dementia and other high-care residents). All residents are cared for by a staff of highly trained nurses and carers with supplementary support provided by an energetic squad of local volunteers. The organisation also provides a range of vital at-home services for hundreds of locals. The costs of private aged care remain high for many Australians, and a key pillar of MannaCare’s philosophy is to provide high-quality care for those who need it, rather than those who can afford it. 

Among the silver linings of COVID-19 is the growing realisation that, while in-person contact will always be indispensable, high-quality aged care can, in part, be delivered remotely – and that emerging technologies have the potential to revolutionise the field. Mannacare – whose board of directors includes Peter Fuller, of the software giant Micro Focus, and Mark McNamara, an expert in digital transformation – is fully embracing those transformative ideas. 

Peter Fuller says the current and potential applications of tech in the evolving aged care ecosystem are diverse and growing. “For now, at MannaCare, they include residents being able to meet remotely with their GPs and specialists, as well as socialise with families and friends, through video applications (crucial during Melbourne’s 2020 lockdowns); access to video-on-demand and pay TV services; and the use of tablets and other smart devices in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities.” 

At-home care is a growing part of the industry’s big picture, and here, the possibilities that tech opens up are almost endless. As Fuller says, they include “wearable tech that can measure an individual’s heart rate and other vital signs, including blood pressure (going far beyond the old ‘panic button’, which has to be physically pressed); motion pressure detectors that can perceive falls; and tech that can remind people to take their medications in ways a plastic pill box never could. The Internet of Things (IoT) will open up a whole new world of once unthinkable possibilities; suppose, for example, that pill box could record whether its lids had been opened each day and alert the user if they hadn’t.” 

The IT industry has in recent years had a collective epiphany: that it can create social as well as corporate value in a range of areas – healthcare, disability services and aged care, for example – and it’s already directing significant intellectual capital towards that end. 

“Of course, industry can’t do it alone,” Fuller notes. “Getting high-speed, cost-effective, reliable internet into more aged care facilities is crucial to improving residents’ lives, and government is the key player in that area. Government can also help by improving the regulatory and funding landscape to speed the development of cheaper and simpler-to-use smart devices.” 

“Tech will never fully replace the human element of aged care – a volunteer’s warm smile or a nurse’s thoughtful gesture can achieve what even the smartest device cannot. But tech can be – and already is – a valuable supplement to the existing infrastructure.” 

MannaCare’s use of technology in its operations, its strong leadership structure and its sense of social mission are good news, not only for Australia’s ageing population but also for the future of the industry as a whole.