Aged Care Week 2026 – Diverse thought leaders lean in for collaborative solves

Aged Care Week 2026, facilitated by Akolade, may have drawn to a close but its ideas are as discussed as ever. The hallmark of a sector keen for substantive progress, a wide range of professionals traveled to Sydney to lean into, in-person, the very real challenges and hopes of seniors, sector and staff. 

At the heart of the talks, a through-line of conviction to tackle what is happening on the ground, for seniors, for the front-line staff that are directly caring, and the overarching challenges facing leaders in supporting organisations to land reform and care. More so, a repeated attitude of leveraging the skills, experiences and importantly, honest lessons from within organisations was evident. Discussion delved into unexpected consequences in trying to implement reform, showcasing them for a collaborative enrichment of process. 

Over three days of connectivity a theme emerges, aged care leaders are leaning in, with transparency and intent, to leverage a sector’s lessons for its strengthened future.

Governance growth

Erin McMullen of Company Secretary Australia spoke into the growth efforts facing boards in the new regulatory environment. 

“Governance failure sits with boards”.

A strong message of growth mentality was examined as McMullen clarified, “passive oversight is gone”.

Under the new rights based framework, while the duties have not altered, it is the particularly new pronounced clarity of legal obligations that McMullen advises directors to be intimately acquainted with.

A detailed awareness of how legal requirements are now realised in the implementation of oversight in the real-world is simply due process. Due diligence is now firmly practical, policies and operational documentation, and reporting, require optimal clarity and handling between levels of management. 

“The board macro lens needs absolutely good intel”.

The balance for board members to approach scope is set to be a defining hallmark of operational health. McMullen emphasised this balance must be protected to prevent burnout, “drifting too high away from what is happening on the ground, or getting too in the weeds, will mean a board is out of position to get care right”.

AI wrestling continues

Repeatedly asked to comment on AI implementation, a theme emerges, a sector wrestling with tentative exploration, implementation, questions and assessment. 

Evident too is a cautious, ‘wait and see’ sentiment. 

McMullen and fellow panelists, highlighting a pervasive hesitancy in answering absolutely on how to respond to AI, go so far as to say boards and senior executives must be aware and respond to the obvious, “staff at all levels are using AI”.

The need for leaders to meet the reality is a critical step in governance, “all providers must have a policy on AI use and rules within their organisation”. 

“AI use must be mentioned, and guided by management, there must be a policy”.

Yet as to the details of said policy, and those willing to advise with utter clarity outside of businesses promoting their AI products, is yet to be seen.  

Provider heads recognise embedded respect

Panelists Tom Yourrell, Tamar Krebs and Tom Dryden, in their discussion on the temperature and challenges of provider operations on the ground, exhibit sector professionals in conviction, intelligence and agility responding to a challenging environment.

Encouraging to many of the leaders present at the conference, the sentiment of the intent of reform, that of rights based being common sense, was laid down. So too, the difficulty and complicated nature of ensuring this in the frequently frenetic and incessant pace of aged care.

“The rights of seniors to feel respected and heard is a real reality in our homes”, a panelist member shares. An important element of the conference was to provide a moment to honour the difficulty of landing legislative intent in the real-world. 

“Talking with teams on how to uphold rights in practice is sometimes not straightforward in every scenario, it can be complicated”.

Training continuum 

For the hundreds of senior executives, board members, to the newest front-line staff hire, the excellence of care is not distanced in cerebral legislation, it is in the nuanced and complicated space of humans, systems and decisions. The need for constant training is profound, Krebs noted. 

“Traning is foundational”, she advocates, “ensuring and supporting curiosity and a connection and growth mindset, to ask questions, to know people, to know processes, is vital”.

Krebs’ message, affirmed by fellow panelists, affirms a widespread sentiment felt across the conference and attendees. Within a changing environment of regulation, of processes, the need to train, to educate and evolve is powerful and central. 

Tom Yourrell, CEO of St Andrew’s Community Aged Care highlighted the need for nuance within compliance. Hearing from seniors in their residences is to have the clearest insight into how rights-based and person-centred acts on the ground. 

“Hearing from seniors and responding is what we as a provider have wanted to do, within the regulatory environment, making changes for them is what matters. And so, we have empowered, and will continue to empower, team members to make decisions within guardrails”.

Yourrell highlights the dynamic response leaders across the sector are increasingly leaning into, “we are hearing from seniors that they don’t want to be showered like clockwork every 7am, so we’re empowering our staff to know, ‘oh wait, I can decide to shower Margaret later, she doesn’t want the rigidity, so I have the insight and trust to shower her later’”.

Recruitment

In the face of workforce shortages and retention, panelists discussed changes that they have been deciding on to tackle a persistently difficult labour environment.

In meeting the sector’s challenges, recruitment, culture and a growth mindset are key ingredients for success, thought leaders at the conference attest. 

Yourrell and Krebs highlight, they are shifting to the traineeship model. This shift in recruitment approach and scope is to place strategy of longevity and substance of teams in, “bringing in fresh new staff, that may have very little or no care experience but it is their openness and hope for culture, to be a part of it, to enrich it that makes the most difference”.

“When interviewing there is a renewed and focussed search for sincere passion and compassion”, Yourrell notes, “to come in with those qualities is vital, other skills can be taught along the way”.

For both Krebs and Yourrell, “there is a huge importance on looking at values, ‘why are you interested in working in aged care, particularly, why are you interested in working with us?’, the question is not, ‘do you want this job?’, the question is, ‘do you really care?’”

Meeting future tech changes

The wide range of panellists and expert speakers highlight a trend, meeting technological advances, whether AI or otherwise is not a nice-to-have, it’s requisite. The rapid pace of tech is such that risk exposure environments are changing almost weekly. 

Multiple experts, including John Dryden, speak of the data and tech “risk exposure” that the sector must contend with. The substantially sensitive information that providers handle, from financials to complete health records mean that “simple ways to deceive” can have “terrible consequences”.

In responding to increased compliance measures, providers are needing to pivot in resource allocation to staff training, as well as cyber security measures. 

In-person skills leverage

From compliance challenge, to tech overhaul, diverse thought leaders delivered industry earned experience in a setting ready for unpacking, collaboration and testing. 

Innovative metric systems were directly assessed for efficiency on the floor by small-scale provider CEOs, leveraging the full gamut of care from hospital to RAC was discussed by senior executives of large-scale organisations. Nurse consultants promoted the freedom and balance of risk for open door policies with dementia. 

The in-person conference setting, bringing together diverse leaders, continues to be a critical and needed measure for professionals in the aged care space, to wrestle collaboratively with significant challenges. Leveraging diverse backgrounds and insight for sector benefit, at the micro and aggregate levels continues to provide strategic and networked operational options for an industry that seeks a robust and sustainable future.