DISRUPTIVE TRENDS IN AGED CARE

DISRUPTIVE TRENDS 

IN AGED CARE 

Using Technology to Get Ahead

DISRUPTIVE TRENDS IN AGED CARE 

01 

We’ve entered an era of low cost 

‘smart devices’ that can improve 

the standard of care and offer 

greater independence to our 

country’s ageing population. 

Growing old in Australia is changing. There is currently more information online 

to help families find the right services, and processes are increasingly 

automated to improve the safety, security and quality of aged care facilities. 

But is the system changing fast enough to cater to the 3 million people over the 

age of 65 in Australia? Are aged care providers staying on top of digital trends 

that could improve the health and welfare of their residents? And what about 

people who wish to avoid going into care? What about areas where there’s an 

overwhelming lack of vacancies? 

Companies are responding to the growing consumer demand for ‘connected 

independence technology’ - things like in-home monitoring and security devices 

- by creating a range of products designed to play an assistive role in allowing 

older people to live independently for longer. 

This technology can significantly improve the quality of life of older people, 

whether they reside in care or at home. Smart devices are now equipped with 

cameras, trackers, GPS, voice command, Bluetooth, mobile connectivity and 

sensors to monitor older people’s activity and ensure things like medication is 

correctly taken and accidents promptly addressed.


02 

The Challenges Facing 

the Aged Care Sector 

Census data published by the 

Australian Bureau of Statistics 

shows that between 1994 and 2014 

the number of people aged 65 years 

and over increased from 11.8% of the 

total population to 14.7%. What’s 

more, the proportion of people aged 

85 years and over almost doubled 

from 1.0% in 1994 to 1.9% in 2014. 

As our life expectancy continues to 

increase, we’re seeing a greater 

demand for aged care - a demand 

that providers are struggling to 

meet. At the same time, a growing 

number of older people simply don’t 

want to enter a facility, and in many 

regions in Australia, a lack of 

vacancies means that this isn’t an 

option anyway. 

By 2028, we’ll see more people over 

the age of 60 than under the age of 

20. With a decreasing tax base and 

increasingly dependent ageing 

population, governments will have to 

look for ways to drive down the cost 

of care while enhancing its quality, 

convenience and efficiency. 

To do this, we must ensure 

widespread and sustained adoption 

of assistive technology.


03 

How Technology is 

Changing the Face of 

Aged Care 

Assistive technology and smart devices offer better access to care services; 

they reduce the number of home visits by healthcare providers and offer the 

most up-to-date information to care staff. 

For people who wish to avoid going into aged care, technology gives their loved 

ones the emotional confidence to leave their parents or relatives at home for 

longer. It’s often very distressing to move family members into a facility, and 

these devices can extend their at-home comfort. 

But, well, how are old people 

supposed to actually use technology? 

We’re not exactly talking 

smartphones for teenagers here…. 

Professor Jeffrey Soar holds a Personal Chair in Human-Centred Technologies 

in the School of Management and Enterprise at the University of Southern 

Queensland and believes that assistive technology need to be accessible and 

user friendly in order to see sustained adoption at the level at which we’ve 

experienced in other fields.


04 

“It needs to be passive and unintrusive in order to succeed. Devices need 

to exist without much maintenance from older people who might not be 

comfortable with technology to begin with. Where people have to wear 

something or interact with a machine, they’re less likely to do that,” says 

Soar. 

And developers in this space have certainly listened. 

Consumer independence technology is 

currently a $2 billion industry that is 

expected to grow to around $30 billion by 

2020. 

Examples of devices already in existence 

today include mobile push-button 

emergency response systems, digital pill 

dispensers that unlock the correct dosage 

each day, daily activity trackers with 

biometrics monitoring, and even GPS 

insoles to keep an eye on wandering 

parents. All of these devices can be 

programmed remotely and require little 

interaction from their elderly users.


05 

Key Trends Affecting 

Aged Care 

Assistive technology can be broken up into three broad categories. Each 

contributes to the quality of care and overall wellbeing of our ageing population in 

different ways. 

1 

Communication technology 

Smart devices aren’t just about monitoring the movements 

of frail Australians. They’re not all designed to take away 

the privacy (and dignity) of their subjects, even though 

such devices might give family members much needed 

peace of mind. Communication technology, such as Skype 

and FaceTime, links people with their loved ones in remote 

areas and provides affordable ways to keep in touch. 

For technology resistant older people, the Jitterbug Plus 

from Samsung offers large, easy-to-use buttons and a 

simple interface for basic communication needs.


06 

2 

Tracking and monitoring technologies 

Lively is by far the most popular activity tracking 

system and gives family members insight with 

in-home activity sensors that share the daily routine 

of their loved ones. There’s also an optional smart 

watch that doubles as an emergency response button 

and offers intelligent reminders to eat or go for a 

walk. Lively ports can be attached to everyday things 

like the fridge and medicine cabinet, and the company 

can send healthcare professionals and loved ones 

alerts if there’s a break in daily routines or habits. 

Similar companies such as Dropcam or Piper use 

cameras throughout the home to monitor activity and 

sync with a smartphone to maximise convenience. 

Within this space there’s an emerging number of mood tracking devices 

that can be integrated with physical health information to provide a more 

detailed picture of a loved one’s wellbeing. 

3 

Assistive technology for around the 

home 

We might not be at the level of robot housekeepers 

and Jestons-esque automation, but help around the 

house in the form of robot vacuum cleaners and 

automated window cleaners are both affordable and 

extremely convenient for seniors. There’s also 

automowers, smart locks and even cooking systems 

that switch off if the stove appears to have been left 

on for too long.


07 

Barriers to the Success 

of These Innovations 

Policy makers and healthcare professionals have been reluctant to adopt these 

technologies in any systematic way and, as a result, they have largely failed to 

reach a mass audience. 

According to Professor Soar, many interdisciplinary players are now moving 

into the healthcare sector from non-traditional areas such as consumer 

electronics, telecommunications and software development, and these new 

ways of doing things may be contributing to our reluctance. 

“There is a need for an even greater range of disciplines in the future, however 

this requires healthcare providers and policy makers to be open to new 

business models. There’s a disconnect between people designing and selling 

these technologies and the people running health and aged care 

organisations,” says Soar. 

Accessibility and unobtrusiveness are also key factors. 

“Most of us don’t welcome ageing and disability and we’re 

not happy to be reminded of our loss of capacity. So if 

there’s technology that can operate in the background that 

can track our actions and mood that will surely include 

increased adoption.”


08 

Disruptors in the Sector 

Careseekers is an online platform that 

connects people looking for in-home 

carers with the right provider. The 

service, which was established in 2014, 

was founded on the premise that baby 

boomers, who make up the largest 

demographic in Australia today, are 

getting older and will use aged care 

services differently to previous 

generations. 

“They [the boomers] will expect more 

consumer choice; they are comfortable 

outsourcing and they want to age in 

place (at home) and maintain a good 

quality of life,” says Careseekers 

co-founder Lauren Sandler. “These 

factors will lead to disruption and 

innovation in the aged care industry as 

they are not the values that have 

underpinned the delivery of aged care 

services in the past. 

“Baby boomer families have fewer 

children and are often dispersed 

interstate and overseas, which means 

loved ones are not able to help their 

ageing parents and innovative 

solutions need to be found.” 

Sandler believes that the biggest 

disruption to the industry over the next 

3-5 years will be a move towards 

consumer directed care and the 

privatisation of government services 

(as we have already seen with 

Australian Unity and Home Care). 

Careseekers aims to offer quality 

carers at affordable prices, with a 

range of online profiles and reviews 

that help consumers find the right 

helpers for their loved ones.


09 

Similarly, Aged Care Reviews is a 

consumer review website for the aged 

care industry, pushing transparency 

and educating the industry of the 

importance of moving towards a 

consumer focused model. 

Kenneth Ray is the co-founder and 

chief executive officer of Aged Care 

Reviews and believes that there is no 

other industry that involves such stress 

and family strain as aged care. At the 

same time, there is often very little 

time and comparison material from 

which to make an informed decision 

about the right provider for your loved 

one. 

“Aged care operators have existed with 

long waiting lists for a long time. Their 

main focus hasn’t been the consumer, 

but has been regulatory – making sure 

they meet government accreditation 

standards. This has bred a philosophy 

more concerned with paperwork than 

customer service. 

“In this backdrop the ordinary 

consumer is being asked to sell their 

family home to enter a nursing home. 

We calculate the average Residential 

Accommodation Deposit (bond) is 

approaching $500,000 in Victoria. Most 

aged care entry decisions are made in 

weeks, off the back of a medical event 

that renders a family member unable 

to move back home,” says Ray. 

Both business leaders firmly believe 

that the pace of change in aged care 

will only increase as the industry 

becomes more ‘market based’. 

“It will be an amazing time for 

innovation and digital disruption,” says 

Ray.“As more senior managers come 

into the industry from outside 

traditional care sectors, we think many 

more of them will bring strategies and 

philosophies that will only enhance the 

consumer experience.”


10 

Conclusion 

Digital technology is now widely accessible. If we ignore its benefits and fail to 

exploit assistive devices we will only disadvantage our aged care system and the 

people within it. 

Despite its benefits, there remains a low level of adoption for smart devices and 

assistive technology. Some chalk this down to a widespread perception that 

smart home projects have rarely moved into sustainable mainstream use, 

while others feel that is a more systemic failure. 

There’s no reason that technology shouldn’t play a big role in improving the 

ageing process, just as it has done in almost all other areas where it offers 

consumer convenience, greater transparency and control, improved productivity 

and efficiency. 

There’s no reason that technology shouldn’t play a big role in improving the 

ageing process, just as it has done in almost all other areas where it offers 

consumer convenience, greater transparency and control, improved productivity 

and efficiency.


11 

Appendices 

Assistive Health Technologies for Independent Living report prepared by the 

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences 

Living Longer, Living Better report prepared by the Australian Government 

Talk by Professor Marcus Wigan at the Graduate House Monthly Luncheon - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzMQivxvaxY 

Constructing Age and Technology as Augmentation, not Degradation report 

prepared by Marcus Wigan. 

Websites : 

www.lifetec.org.au 

http://www.aarp.org 

http://www.lifehack.org/316105/3-newtechnologies-care-for-aging-parent 

http://www.careseekers.com.au/ 

http://agedcarereviews.com.au/ 

http://integratedliving.org.au/ 

http://www.australianageingagenda.co 

m.au/2015/02/06/debate-arent-ahead-a 

ssistive-technology/

DISRUPTIVE TRENDS IN AGED CARE

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