For some time the aged care sector has grappled with workforce recruitment and retention issues, especially for providers in rural and remote regions.
Retaining staff is of utmost importance, with average turnover rates reported at 29% by the last Aged Care Workforce Census, with increased workforce shortages predicted in the future.
Through ARIIA’s Aged Care Partnering Program, service provider Tanunda Lutheran Homes was introduced to RV Automation Technology, an international robotics developer and manufacturer, to provide support to workers.
Tanunda Lutheran Homes, Chief Executive Officer, Lee Martin said that the workforce is the biggest issue in aged care with remote places struggling to find any sort of worker.
“Finding innovative ways to supplement the workforce, as well as keeping them safe and engaged, has been a priority for many providers, including here at Tanunda Lutheran Home,” he said.
Situated in the Barossa Valley, approximately one hour north of Adelaide, this stand-alone aged care service provider is thinking ahead of the curve to combat workforce shortages.
An internal audit identified that Tanunda Lutheran Homes’ staff were walking approximately 9,000kms per year, with physical demands including moderate to heavy manual and repetitive back-of-house tasks, such as pushing linen and food trollies, placing staff at risk of injury.
This is supported by the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data, which found the most common cause of injury was from activities involving lifting, pushing, pulling or bending, with 66% requiring time off as a result of injury and one-third leading to workers' compensation claims.
Lee explains how the use of robotics could improve safety, by reducing manual handling risks and workplace injuries.
“The greatest issue with aged care staff is the fact that pushing trolleys or mopping, sweeping, vacuuming large areas continually causes back, shoulder, and elbow injuries, he said.
“Robots can do this work quite easily, which means that staff spend less time doing heavy, repetitive tasks and they can spend more beneficial time cleaning a resident’s room, involving the residents in that process at the same time.”
Lee has introduced several different robots within the Tanunda Lutheran Homes site, including robots to transport linen and food, as well as robots to clean large areas.
“Robotics will never replace staff, such as Registered Nurses, but robots can assist them into the future,” said Lee.
“I am deliberately doing what I can, with the limited funds I have, to introduce a range of robots.”
The benefits of using robots may also include greater job satisfaction and staff wellbeing, in turn supporting retention of the current workforce and recruitment to supplement current and future workforce shortages.
Achievements
“It's about keeping the workforce safe and for rural, remote and regional facilities to have a process such as robots to meet a workforce need… it's all about efficiency and safety.”
Ross Dellow, National Sales Manager at RV Automation Technology explained that connecting Lee and him has been advantageous for both parties to work together.
“Collaboration is really important, and everyone's got their part to play.”
“It's imperative to become part of a partnership or group and discuss a way forward. It has been a pleasurable journey so far, but we are still at the start of where the journey’s at from what I'm picking up around the aged care industry.”
Lee added that as a standalone rural facility, it is paramount for him to work with other stakeholders and certainly with professionals like Ross and researchers from universities.
“It comes down to the sharing of ideas, and while the introduction of robotics within aged care is not new, using it to supplement the aged care workforce is quite novel and there is a lack of research on this topic within Australia.
“So we knew we needed to get researchers involved right at the get-go of this project.”
Both parties noted the importance of the ARIIA Aged Care Partnering Program in bringing together organisations from the aged care, research and technology sectors, with workshops held to develop an ARIIA grant application.
Even though they did not secure an ARIIA grant, both partners are determined to implement part of their original project and continue to seek funding to undertake the research needed for the sector to embrace this kind of transformative technology.
Lee noted that an increasing number of larger organisations are actively exploring the use of robotics into the future and seeking to show research evidence of outcomes when seeking funding.
“He emphasised the significance of this and commended Flinders University and the Australian Government for introducing the ARIIA grant process, as anything towards research into situations throughout the aged care sector is highly beneficial.”