ACIITC news items

The Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACiiTC) have recently been mentioned in the following news articles.

Pulse IT Magazine – George Margelis appointed Chair of aged care IT council
Veteran eHealth expert George Margelis has been appointed as the independent chair of the Aged Care Industry IT Council (ACIITC).
Dr Margelis’ role will be to coordinate the sector’s technology vision, which will in future include the alignment of the government’s My Aged Care system with the My Health Record.
Read more

Australian Ageing Agenda – Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council appoints Chair
The Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council board has announced the appointment of Dr George Margelis as its independent chair.
Dr Margelis has over 30 years of experience as a medical practitioner with expertise in technology. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Western Sydney University’s Tele-Health Research and Innovation Laboratory and a member of Ignition Labs, a start-up company for niche technologies in health care.
Dr Margelis was inducted into the Information and Technology in Aged Care Hall of Fame in July 2014 for his service to technology in the aged care sector.
He commenced his career as a trained optometrist and went on to study medicine at the University of Sydney. Dr Margelis previously worked with Macquarie Health Corporation, Intel Australia, Care Innovations and Intel Corporation.
He commenced his role as chair of ACIITC on 22 March.

Australian Ageing Agenda – Calls for inquiry to look at sector’s tech-related issues
The uptake of technology among providers, digital literacy of staff and resident mental health are among key areas the royal commission needs to address on technology, a forum hosted by the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council has heard.
A broad range of aged care industry representatives came together in Sydney and online yesterday to share their perspectives on aged care technology and innovation issues to inform the ACIITC’s submission to the aged care royal commission.
The ACIITC, which aims to raise concerns about technology in the industry with policy and decision makers to improve the uptake of technology within the sector, said its submission would also draw on the Technology Roadmap for Aged Care it launched in June 2017 (read that story here).
Among the 35 attendees was Salvation Army Aged Care Plus head of information technology Paul Berryman. He said the sector needed to be more agile with technology and not be afraid to fail.
“We need to try things out. Some are going to fail, some of them won’t and we need to get on with it. We spend too much time thinking about things and trying to get it perfect but we need to push on,” Mr Berryman told the forum.
Presbyterian Aged Care chief information officer Peter Newing said one of the biggest challenges was digital literacy among staff.
“Digital literacy would be the number one impediment we experience on a daily basis in terms of using technology and getting the most out of it,” Mr Newing said.
“We have a bit of difficultly with English as a second language among our staff and that all plays into it,” he said.
Stephanie Bennett, senior manager with aged care sector advisory firm Grant Thornton, said technology in the sector needed to focus on reducing and managing depression.
“If we can tackle depression, the staff can go in and have a social chat and we can reduce social isolation and increase social connection,” Ms Bennett said. Other main areas of technology concerns raised on the day include:
• smart homes and smart living
• promoting independent living with monitoring technology and wearable sensors
• managing chronic disease
• supporting people living with cognitive issues
• reducing social isolation and increasing social connection

Surveillance in aged care
A second forum at the event discussed the impact of surveillance and monitoring technologies in aged care facilities.
Social gerontologist and aged care researcher Dr Kate Barnett said cameras and surveillance would play an important role for the royal commission with footage already released in ABC’s Four
Corners special into aged care.
“We definitely need to agree on protocol for video surveillance,” Dr Barnett said.
She said there needs to be a balance between providing a safe environment and protecting the rights of older people to privacy.
“What that boils down to in practice is informed consent from people for the use of cameras,” Dr Barnett said.
She said technology used in the sector was often not specifically intended for aged care, so providers needed to embrace the technologies available to avoid falling behind.
“People develop technologies in their own little bubbles and rarely co-design it with the sector.” “This is a good example of technology being out there, and the aged care sector having to catch up on it,” Dr Barnett said

Submissions will be accepted until at least mid-year to the royal commission, which kicks off its witness on Monday to run over eight days until 22 February (read more here).

Pulse IT Magazine – Aged care IT council to write technology roadmap 2.0 to inform Royal Commission
The Aged Care Industry Technology Council (ACIITC) plans to do an update to its 2017 aged care technology roadmap to help inform a planned submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care, highlighting how technology infrastructure and systems can have an effect on quality and
safety.
The council also plans to announce a permanent, independent chair in the next few weeks to coordinate the sector’s technology vision, which will in future include the alignment of the government’s My Aged Care system with the My Health Record.
Read more.