The future of aged care is up for discussion as ARIIA’s marquee event returns

After the inaugural conference picked up a well-deserved gong at the 2023 Australian Event Awards, ARIIA’s 2024 conference Facing the future: Living well, ageing well and dying well returns to Adelaide this week.

Facing the future will feature thought leaders, researchers and health professionals from a range of industries, plus keynote speakers who bring a whole new perspective to ageing and aged care. 

Australia’s Amanda Johnstone, Futurist, Inventor and CEO, is one of the illustrious keynote speakers. She will take to the stage to discuss what the future holds for aged care in terms of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

“The rapid advancement in AI and robotics will significantly transform aged care. By automating tedious tasks such as data entry, these technologies will free up valuable time for our hard-working caregivers, enabling them to focus more on providing direct care and making critical decisions,” she told hello leaders.

“Human-to-human contact remains essential for high-quality, meaningful care and this will be supported by technologies powered by 24/7 monitoring through smart mattresses, sensors, and wearables. These will support a larger number of people with greater accuracy and efficiency and allow our caregivers to make data-informed decisions, alongside their own human intuition and wisdom.”

Ms Johnstone will explore this topic further in her opening day keynote speech – to be followed by a concurrent session appearance – but with an early insight into her session, she told us providers have more to be confident than cautious about. 

“I see the implementation of AI into the workforce similar to how accountants saw the application of the calculator. It created greater accuracy, speed, a reduction of costs and the ability to mathematically solve problems, faster,” she added.

“It also enabled people like me – I’m dyslexic – to have a greater level of precision, mathematical fluency and autonomy. AI is a tool for everyone, just like the calculator or the internet.”

Technology will be a core theme of the two-day conference on July 4 and 5, complemented by early conversations about new approaches to social and community care, attracting and upskilling a future generation of aged care workers, potential for collaborative housing models and co-design.

Dr Rebecca Bilton, Director, Workforce Capacity and Capability, ARIIA, is excited about the upcoming discussions regarding workforce development and direct care outcomes for different generations. 

“Communication, problem-solving, and implementing evidence-based practice are the much-needed skills that ARIIA supports our current and future aged care workforce to develop,” she told hello leaders. 

“These enable them to provide innovative and person-centred care. Caring is a very human-centric role, so the role that technology plays is critical in supporting the workforce to undertake activities more efficiently or accurately so that their time can be spent focusing on their clients.”

Importantly, a quick look at the program highlights just how much emphasis is placed on workforce support and development by ARIIA. The goal is not just to discuss technology that will take away the administrative burden, it is to explore opportunities to strengthen the sector’s workforce and overcome the current shortfall of aged care workers. 

“I think the workforce needs recognition and appreciation from the wider community about the amazing and difficult job they continue to do with such passion. Retention and burnout are huge issues that confound the need to grow our aged care workforces, so there also needs to be increased skill-building and career pathways to ensure that our passionate aged care workforce stay in the sector and are recognised for the care they provide,” Dr Bilton added. 

ARIIA will also provide a platform for its grant recipients to share project updates; a key element of the conference that gives all attendees an insight into the impact of ARIIA. Dr Bilton said she’s looking forward to hearing from past recipients, just as much as they highlight their successes and lessons learnt.

Tickets are still available for Facing the future: Living well, ageing well and dying well. Visit ariiaconference.com.au for more information.