UTS is driving real change to help Australians age sustainably and thrive in their own homes
The first time you see your parent or loved one as elderly, it can catch you off guard. It could be the moment you first noticed your mother taking the stairs one leg at a time onto each step. It could be the moment you realised your grandfather kept asking the restaurant server to repeat words. These moments are as affecting and as personal as the loved ones they are connected to.
The challenge
Australia provides care to over 1.3 million older people, which will expand to 1.8 million within the next decade – life expectancy is increasing, and population growth is slowing, creating a perfect storm of shrinking workforce and fewer taxpayers to care for a growing population who are living longer. We are faced with a quandary that demands viable, scalable, and sustainable answers to care for our loved ones and, in time, ourselves.
The Government spends more on aged care services than it does on Medicare, and more than double what it spends on Job Seeker. The current aged care business model is in crisis, with 63% of aged care homes running at a loss, and appropriate at-home care unavailable to many older people every year due to workforce and skill shortages.
Yet research indicates that our well-being in various aspects, such as physical, emotional, social, and financial spheres, is closely linked to our living environment. Older people aspire to retain the autonomy and freedom to choose to age in place, remaining in their homes as they grow older.
The UTS difference
UTS knows we must change the way we think about where and how we grow older. In 2023, UTS Ambassadors joined with academic experts from the UTS Ageing Research Collaborative (UARC) to explore what it means to age in place – and the benefits.
Bringing the Alumni community and business perspectives together with academic expertise at the inaugural UTS Alumni Forum proved to be a game-changer. Through the lens of the future, the Forum focussed on the facilitation of older adult empowerment and the rapid growth of technology to support new innovations to help this population.
Smart living
The same tech products that we have come to use for connectivity and convenience have been literal life-changers for our older generation.
Heath's story
Heath’s daughter was worried about her father. He lived alone, his balance was poor – and she was a five-hour drive away.
It was only a matter of time before Heath would suffer a fall. And as an independent 72-year-old, it was a challenge for him to accept help.
With support from the government program My Aged Care, Heath organised home modifications. Soon, he could use grab rails to get into the shower, sit while showering, and use handrails to support the few steps up to his front door. Heath was able to continue living comfortably, in his own home, on his own terms. Source
Individuals can call out to virtual smart home devices, like Amazon, Google, and Apple smart speakers, for help when they are at home alone. Current smart technology wearables, like smartwatches, can remind them when to take their medication, monitor their heart rates, and perhaps most critically, detect when they have suffered a fall.
About UARC
UARC conducts ground-breaking translational
research to enable socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable aged care and support for older people in Australia to address complex problems in ageing policy and practice.
See UARC’s background materials for the UTS Alumni Forum for more information on ageing issues in Australia.
In the future, today’s smart home speakers will become robotic assistants, allowing healthcare professionals to remotely conduct scans and administer care. Today's smartwatches will become tomorrow’s digital twins, able to replicate a person’s patterns of behaviour, through AI models, to combat the loss of mental functions. Technology will continue to define how we can live independently in our own homes, even into an advanced age.
Technology will also define how the physical structures of our homes can be constructed and modified for aging in place. Foundational UARC research has revealed that even the smallest home modifications, like adding handrails and seating to a bathroom, can make a difference in preventing an older person from having to relocate to an aged care home.
Whilst home modifications might seem like an obvious solution, it is startling how many families only consider the design and technology in the home at the last minute, when a living situation reaches a crisis point and a person is at risk of entering a residential-aged care facility. At the Alumni Forum our Ambassadors called attention to the need for our country to change how we view our elders, the role that design and technology can play in maintaining independence, and the value that ageing at home can bring to our communities.
Of most importance, all agreed that ageing in place should never mean ageing alone.
Age-elevate
The vision developed at the Forum highlighted the significance of meeting the needs of older adults through a human-centered approach: connecting older people with younger ones through intergenerational living, and an aged care system that provides dignity, flexibility, and choice to meet the individual needs of older people.
More flexible jobs for older people and tax benefits for aging in place can enable people to contribute to their own caring costs, supporting a fair, transparent system of cost-sharing between taxpayers and older people. In addition, older people can undertake better life course planning – chosen and led by their families – which can include health and wellbeing courses, ageing, and end-of-life planning.
It’s a hopeful future that UTS alumni can directly contribute to as leaders across society – in business, the arts, science, and social justice. We all have stories of the emotional impact felt when we watch a loved one grow old. Working together as a community, we can advocate for the research and changes needed.
UARC Star Ratings Dashboard
UARC Star Ratings Dashboard complements MyAgedCare by presenting the Department’s Star Ratings data in an interactive visual format.
Perhaps you have personal or professional experience that can assist in ageing in place research? UARC is developing a 3D model of sustainable care, and every story will further contribute to the solutions being developed. If you would like to be contacted to assist with this study, please email us.