The aged care industry in New Zealand faces an upcoming challenge as the proportion of the population aged 65 and older rises steadily.
This demographic shift will bring an increased need for post-retirement care. Part of this will be the need for high-quality digital infrastructure to provide the highest quality aged care experience for this next retirement generation.
With a new generation of retirees comes new requirements for what they need from post-retirement care. This trend will continue as more digital-literate generations age and seek out aged care residency.
To meet these changing expectations, providers must invest in strong digital foundations, not simply in technology but in various areas, from safety to holistic well-being. Doing so can achieve other outcomes, including finding it easier to retain staff, keep costs under control, manage building efficiency and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) obligations, and even offer value-added services that set them apart in a crowded market.
Operators are making the smart decision to invest in those digital infrastructures preemptively. Of course, consumer-grade equipment will be necessary, but enterprise-class solutions will create fulfilling digital experiences for residents. The solutions will also strengthen the operational efficiency of staff and premises.
One company that specialises in designing and building purpose-driven network infrastructure for enterprise environments is RUCKUS. They have developed a white paper that delves deep into what network providers need to ask themselves as the sector moves forward.
High-quality aged care in the digital age means that there are several areas that providers need to address. For starters, understanding where there are gaps and areas of subpar performance in existing network solutions helps to get the basics right. In the mission-critical healthcare environment, reliable applications are vital, whether in stairwells, lifts, or bathrooms.
For residents, it means a quality of network service that's the same whether in bedrooms, busy common areas, or outdoor gardens.
Another critical consideration is the need for high bandwidth and communication capabilities.
Newer generations of aged-care residents will be more digitally capable and digitally reliant. They also want to live increasingly full lives in aged care facilities. Residents want the ability to do the things they usually would at home: enjoying entertainment, staying active, or communicating with their family and friends.
Villages need substantial wireless bandwidth and coverage for residents to do these things in a frictionless environment. That may involve deploying wireless access points with higher range, reliability, and bandwidth; or networks that optimise themselves using AI or automation.
Network security is also a critical consideration. The protection and privacy of health and personal data are front-of-mind for residents as they place it in aged care operators' hands. This happens while regulators and shareholders pay more attention to the risks of data breaches, which are more prevalent.
The physical security of residents is also an issue that technologies like digital locks and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions can help reinforce. Yet those security solutions rely on robust network security to avoid being compromised. Consideration needs to be given by aged care operators to more robust network security solutions that are easily scalable across high volumes of devices, allowing them to improve physical and cyber security even as threats change and multiply.
Always-on monitoring is another area that can support the challenges faced by the sector, especially when considering labour and resource shortages. Digital monitoring solutions can provide 24/7 feedback on residents' health, such as fall detection bracelets and heart monitors.
Telehealth and e-health consultants are another way to relieve on-site staff pressures, as they can access these digital monitoring solutions. However, this again requires significant bandwidth.
You can’t have a high-quality aged care experience without high-quality digital infrastructure. Aged care residents and their families want and need much more from their technology and digital services than they used to – from video calls to e-reading and gaming.
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