Investment into aged and disability service delivery in Australia. Tis more than just cash that is required.
It seems like only short few years ago we first struggled to encourage the Australian Government to be sufficiently interested in funding a Cooperative Research Centre bid for technology in aged and disability service provision. At the time (2013) I was based at the University of Tasmania where the DVC-Research, Paddy Nixon, suggested that the environment was right for a concerted effort around developing technologies for aged and disability service provision. Paddy and I had previously with been involved in the Technology Research for Independent Living initiative in Ireland. We both understood the multitude of ways in which agecare in particular could benefit from digital disruption. The CRC seemed like the right kind of funding pool that could help us work towards that goal.
Despite building a strong consortium of tech partners, researchers and service providers across a number of States and territories, and being ably guided through the process by folks like Steven Brown in 2013/14 and later by others like Gary Morgan in 2015-17, on repeated attempts to secure funding (most recently in a bid led by Swinburne University), the CRC panels have rejected our increasingly refined arguments. Apparently we have never able to convince them of the "commercial" opportunities for Australia in investing in innovation in aged and disability service provision.
So it is great to see that the venture community in this country is starting to recognise the opportunities that technology can bring to aged and disability service provision. In particular I draw your attention to the recently announced $2M injection into the Adelaide-based startup, Lumary, for a workflow management platform for agedcare and disability service providers who are involved in the NDIS. Congratulations to all involved in this, as a technologist I'm delighted to see that we are starting to recognise the opportunities in the Longevity Economy (as described by Joe Coughlin and others). Great also too to see initiatives like innovAgeing providing young (and not so young), entrepreneurial types a platform for thinking about innovation in agedcare,
Despite this, we still have a moral imperative to improve the way in which we, as a society, regard the customers of aged and disability service delivery (there I go talking about the social benefit angle to all of this that probably impacted our CRC bid applications!). At the heart of the horror stories coming out of the Agedcare Royal Commission is a systematic failure in our humanity. And I suspect this reflects a more general societal apathy towards older adults or those living with a disability.
Especially in provision of age care, but also in the disability services sector, we need to ensure that the workforce is adequately trained, not just in the technical skills of service delivery, but also too on empathy. Who hasn't been shocked by the appalling behaviour revealed in consumer stories presented to the Royal Commission where a lack of empathy appears to be at the heart of instances of abuse?
We know that demand for appropriately skilled and empathic workers in ageing and disability currently far exceeds supply. In attempting to meet the shortfall, many service providers are forced to rely on workers who are may be neither suitable nor skilled to deliver services to vulnerable populations. What then are we doing to ensure that in addition to the usual Cert III/ Cert IV in home/aged/disability care, we are also equipping the workforce with skills in how to relate to clients in an empathic, truely caring manner?
The research literature is replete with examples of ways in which empathy training is possible (e.g. Reiss 2015 for a brief review on impact of empathy training for clinicians). Recently, new technologies like Virtual Reality have been explored for providing care workers with insight into the lived experience of people with dementia, with emergence of empathic responses observed following training (Slater et al 2019).
I'm wondering if there is a group of bright young tech types out there, and people who are willing to invest in them, to take up the challenge of ensuring that at the same time technology can improve the operational efficiency of care providers, they can also develop solutions to ensure that the workforce is suitably equipped with the human skills required to deliver best quality care.
If so, I'm keen to hear from you.
Principal Consultant | ML/AI/Data Science Professional | Visual Artist | Women in AI Finalist
5 年Maybe. I am currently looking at visualising composite images based on emotional logic from a narrative. Could be used for empathy training or assisting with decision making.?
Stakeholder Engagement, Collaboration, Innovation, Funding, Impact
5 年Hey Stuart .... hope all is well in your world .... I am reminded in the saying that nothing worthwhile is ever easy ....
Director at Bailey and Yang
5 年'Tis indeed. Nice work Stu.
Registered Nurse at NSW Health
5 年Well put Stuart. Before graduating as a Registered Nurse I worked in aged care as an AIN at multiple aged care residences. I have seen the difference that computerized systems can make having worked both in facilities that rely entirely on paper and those which utilize computer systems. The differences, particularly regarding accountability and accuracy are enormous. Another carer once said to me “When we come to work we need to acknowledge that we aren’t only arriving at our workplace. We are arriving at someone’s home that we just so happen to work at, and the way we treat them needs to be reflected as such.” I think this was very poignant. People need to shift out of their own narrow perspectives more often.