Over the next five years, the Australian government plans to provide $17.7M in funding to better support aged care residents.
As part of their plan, the government aims to increase care for residents to 200 minutes per day, including 40 minutes of registered nurse (RN) time, by 2022.
Ahead of the new aged care act planned for 2023, facilities will also be required to strictly adhere to the reporting of daily staffing hours, specify necessary details to maintain balanced working conditions for workers, and review the level of service given to all residents.
The administrative burden of rostering and tracking care workers and RNs’ time adds pressure to a workforce and industry that is already stretched thin due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, slow vaccination rollouts, and nurse-to-patient ratio increases across the sector.
As such, employers need to find new solutions to combat employee fatigue and improve staff well-being, while maintaining or improving service levels and remaining compliant.
Cloud-based workforce-management systems, AI, and machine learning all play critical roles in overcoming these challenges and can enhance the efficiency, safety, and employee experience for all workers by helping ensure staff have the right qualifications, rest periods, and remunerations for each shift.
Writing for Hospital + Healthcare, Nick Bailey, WorkForce Software Senior Vice President (Asia Pacific & Japan) explains how WFM can integrate with existing healthcare-management systems and configured to generate rosters for certified and qualified staff automatically, fill gaps caused by unplanned absences, ensure compliance with pay rules and annual salary conditions, flag attendance issues to prevent overpay, and provide employees with greater transparency over work practices.
“Team members can now view their roster and current timesheet on their phone in real time before it’s exported on payday,” says Kevin Britton, National Payroll Manager at Opal HealthCare—a current WorkForce Suite customer, who uses the technology to handle rostering across 80 care homes. “Any discrepancies can be addressed ahead of payday and get amended before payroll runs, meaning no incorrect pay, no frustrated team members and no additional work.”
Read the full article below to understand the benefits of modern workforce management technology in the aged-care sector.