Skills, technology key to strengthening Australia’s home and community care workforce

Holmesglen Institute forum names the skills, technology and partnerships for meeting the needs of Australia’s ageing population.

The shift to home-based care requires a fundamental redesign of workforce education, development, technology use and home retrofitting say experts meeting to discuss the vision for Holmesglen’s Home and Community Care Centre of Excellence.

Announced in March, the $20.6m Centre at Holmesglen’s Moorabbin campus, is jointly funded by the Australian and Victorian Governments. A ‘living laboratory’, it will deliver advanced training, applied research and uplift digital literacy in the care sector.

A panel of five sector leaders agreed that Australia’s ageing population, workforce shortages and growing consumer preference for care at home will shape how care is delivered over coming decades.

While technology will play an increasingly important role, innovation must strengthen – not replace – the humans and human relationships at the heart of quality care. The panel featured:

• Emma King OAM, Chief Executive Officer, HumanAbility
• Carmela Sergi, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Care Economy CRC
• Dr Rachel Couper, Senior Lecturer and Researcher, Monash University Future Building Initiative
• Andrew Hayward, Head of Workforce Strategy, Ageing Australia
• Fleur Goulding, Strategic Lead, Home and Community Care Centre of Excellence, Holmesglen Institute.

Holmesglen Institute’s Chief Executive, Mary Faraone, said the conversation highlighted the scale of change underway across Australia's care sector.

"Australia's care system is changing faster than our traditional education and training system can keep up. Care is increasingly being delivered in people's homes, technology is rapidly evolving, and education must evolve alongside it.

"To adapt to these changes, we need a workforce equipped with new skills, stronger partnerships across sectors, and a commitment to innovation that improves outcomes for both care recipients and care workers.

"The conversations at the event demonstrate the willingness of industry, education and research leaders to come together to help shape the future of care in Australia," Ms Faraone said.

In Conversation was part of Holmesglen's ongoing industry engagement, bringing together educators, researchers, tech specialists, care providers and consumers to co-design, trial and evaluate future models of home and community care before implementation at scale.

Through its Smart Home Living Lab and Virtual Smart Home, the Centre will test new technologies, training approaches and care models in realistic home environments before being translated into workforce education and industry practice.

Key themes from the discussion included:

• Australia must prepare many more workers with skills for technology-enabled home and community care
• Technology should augment – not replace – the human relationships that sit at the heart of quality care
• Better home design, smart technology and co-designed innovation can help Australians stay independent and living safely at home for longer.
• Industry, education and research must work together to rapidly translate innovation into practical workforce capability.

Want to discuss the Home and Community Care Centre of Excellence and its collaboration and training opportunities? Get in touch with us today.