Global Community Resourcing (GCR) highlights involvement in current work highlighting the challenges faced by the technology and innovation workforce in aged and community care. This work has specifically highlighted issues in respect to recruitment and retention, along with the gaps in skill requirements.
Through research projects and national discussions, it has been identified that there is a shortage of adequately skilled and digitally literate professionals in the sector. The turnover of technical staff is alarmingly high, with reports of up to 65% turnover in certain roles (2022 data). Service providers struggle to recruit new staff and offer competitive wages for these positions. To address these issues, a national strategy is needed to build a stronger technology and innovation workforce in aged care. Training and support for workforce technology, including cybersecurity and data sensitivity, needs to become common practice. Recruitment and selection processes should assess digital literacy, and workforce redesign is necessary to enable the introduction of new technologies.
This work emphasises the importance of a digitally mature workforce to delivering high-quality care and encourages residential aged care and community care providers to participate in ongoing research work. By actively addressing these workforce challenges, the aim is to enhance the adoption of technology and innovation in aged and community care, ultimately improving the quality of assistance provided to older Australians.
GCR has been involved in a range of international and national projects researching and assisting providers to transform their services and models of care and support.