The Australian Government’s Department of Health and Aged Care has awarded Accenture two new contracts to help deliver IT capabilities in the aged care sector over the next two years.
Last July, the IT services giant was awarded contracts worth approximately A$300 million ($200 million) – A$289 million ($190 million) and A$10.5 million ($7 million) – to support the delivery of technology underpinning the New Aged Care Act. Specifically, Accenture has been tasked with the design and implementation of workforce application solutions on the Salesforce MuleSoft platform.
“This staff reinforcement supports the temporary requirements of reform initiatives while ensuring that the permanent capacity to maintain the digital elderly care ecosystem in the future is maintained within the ministry’s permanent workforce,” a ministry spokesperson said.
“Accenture will continue to grow the Australian Public Service’s permanent workforce, alongside other service integrators in the Department’s competitive multi-vendor environment, during a period of significant reform and digital advance for the aged care sector.”
In a recently published report on the progress of aged care reforms, Acting Inspector General of Aged Care, Ian Yates, said that systemic staffing problems persist, including inadequate resources, a severe shortage of nurses and limited professional development and workplace support. These problems have “not yet been fully addressed by current reforms.”
THE BIGGER CONTEXT
The department also awarded Accenture a A$156.9 million ($100 million) contract last year to design and roll out a new IT system for aged care providers. The Government Provider Management System (GPMS) replaces the two-decade-old National Approved Provider System. A key initiative that is The GPMS, a 10-year digital plan for healthcare, enables elderly care providers to manage, view and maintain their data with the government themselves.
“Now that the baseline solution has been built, the department continues to develop new functionality and components for the GPMS portal to meet the ongoing requirements of planned reform measures, new government policy initiatives and legislative requirements,” the department spokesperson said.
To date, the Australian government has invested at least A$1.5 billion ($990 million) in ICT modernisation of the aged care sector. This came after recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found the sector to be “deeply analogue” and “far behind” in the uptake of digital technologies. A first A$312.6 million ($200 million) was set aside in Budget 2022 to meet the royal commission’s 30 ICT-related recommendations. At least A$1.2 billion ($790 million) was set aside in Budget 2024 for “significant maintenance and improvements to technology and platforms.”