Aged care’s data problem is starting to find its fix
Lauren Liao, Contributor
Three hours of a shift gone to paperwork — before a single resident is checked on. As documentation eats into aged care nursing time, new tools like Kinnexus and BESTMED IQ are trying to hand some of that time back to care.
Latest News
New acting head, Kate Pope, confirmed for aged care’s independent oversight body
Kate Pope PSM has taken over as acting Inspector-General of Aged Care, bringing 35 years of public sector experience to the role while government recruits a permanent appointee.
Ageism in the workforce: the blind spot inside aged care
Aged care relies heavily on women, but older workers can still face assumptions about capability, adaptability and value. Advocate Beverly Baker argues providers need to look more closely at how ageism shapes their workforce and workplace culture.
Hayley Campbell, Content Writer
Aged care reforms haven’t fixed staffing, survey finds
A union survey of 3,550 frontline workers finds understaffing, rising violence and unexplained funding gaps persisting under the Aged Care Act reforms – raising fresh governance questions about how providers are spending taxpayer funding.
Marion Piper, Contributor
The $100,000 blindspot: Why flat maintenance budgets hide aged care capital risks
When aged care facilities run 24 hours a day, relying on flat budgets and old asset registers creates hidden financial risks. MDFM’s Head of Operations, Rohit Singh, explains why capital planning fails when data falls behind reality.
Marion Piper, Contributor
Quality of care through hospitality
Over the past four or five years, something has quietly changed in aged care dining rooms: the line between care and catering has blurred, and care-minute requirements are now sitting alongside that shift. This piece looks at what happens when funding categories meet the reality of the table — and why the parts of a mealtime that matter most are often the parts no metric was built to capture.
Lindsey OGrady, Senior Catering Operations Specialist
Contributors
Yvette Willison - Content Writer
"Yvette is an avid storyteller with a working knowledge base in the Allied Health, Disability and Aged Care sectors."
Hayley Campbell - Content Writer
"Hayley Campbell is a mental health and healthcare copywriter who believes the best stories start with people."
Atlas McNeil - National Clinical and Training Manager
"Lesley Barton is the National Clinical and Training Manager at Bunzl & Atlas McNeil Healthcare Community, with over 40 years of healthcare experience."
Rise Up Group - Senior Catering Operations Specialist
"Lindsey O’Grady is a chef and aged care hospitality specialist with 40 years’ experience."
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News
Standardised failure: how the new NDIS bill sacrifices participants for budget repair
Marion Piper, Contributor As NDIS reforms repeat the design flaws of aged care’s algorithmic funding failures, Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess warns that providers will bear the fallout of standardised models that sacrifice individual needs for budget repair.
Why KPMG’s whistleblower failure should concern every aged care provider
Marion Piper, Contributor Following KPMG’s high-profile whistleblower governance failure, Australian aged care directors face heightened scrutiny. Under the new Aged Care Act, leaders can be personally fined up to $165,000 for non-compliant reporting systems, even if the organisation itself escapes regulatory action.
Support at Home’s biggest test: Can government turn reform promises into real-world care access?
Lauren Liao, Contributor A survey of older Australians has highlighted growing frustration with Support at Home, revealing challenges around waiting times, complexity, provider availability and out-of-pocket costs.
Why aged care’s IAT human override could become the next bottleneck
Lauren Liao, Contributor OPAN’s CEO Craig Gear warns the IAT’s human override could recreate the bottleneck it’s meant to fix. With three changes in weeks and Minister Rae unable to confirm trigger criteria or timeframes, boards need to start managing the internal exposure themselves.
Navigating the new horizon: Australia’s first cross-setting quality framework
Lauren Liao, Contributor This new cross-setting framework gives aged care leaders an evidence-based blueprint to measure quality across the entire continuum of care, helping organisations bridge the gap between health services and residential settings to deliver truly integrated, person-centred outcomes.
The Arcare story is about yesterday. The bigger story is what’s next.
Lauren Liao, Contributor While the headlines have focused on allegations surrounding additional service fees via HELF, the more important question for boards and executives is whether the sector has fully understood what the new Aged Care Act is asking providers to become.
Senate passes bill to restore human override in aged care assessments
Hayley Campbell, Content Writer The Senate has backed a bill to restore assessor override to the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT). Whether it becomes law or not, providers are already working within the gap between funding decisions and responsibility for safe care.
Topic
How aged care leaders can reduce the stigma around incontinence
A resident who avoids the dining room isn’t being difficult — they’re managing shame. Incontinence affects nearly half of aged care residents, yet stigma often outweighs the physical challenge. Here’s how leaders can build a culture of dignity-first continence care.
Dinesh Subramani’s recipe for next-generation aged care leadership
By placing dignity, passion, and technology at the heart of the kitchen, mecwacare’s Hospitality Manager demonstrates why dining and lifestyle are the ultimate differentiators in aged care leadership.
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