Inside Ageing

Australia's next generation of retirees is challenging traditional assumptions about retirement living, with lifestyle, affordability and independence emerging as increasingly important priorities before care needs arise. Research from Colliers Healthcare & Retirement Living suggests the seniors accommodation market will need to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach as the needs and expectations of older Australians change significantly across different stages of later life.

In this partner post, SilVR Adventures outlines how its immersive workforce VR training and AI-powered engagement platform are designed to support more informed, person-centred care, from helping staff experience some of the sensory challenges residents may face to sharing personalised activity insights across care teams. SilVR is a past Future of Ageing Awards winner - a program run by this publication. SilVR combines immersive workforce training with an AI-powered engagement platform.

After years of scrutiny over the pay of nurses and other direct-care workers, aged care providers may be overlooking another part of their workforce: the people cleaning rooms, preparing meals and keeping facilities running. The Fair Work Ombudsman's aged care sector investigation report, released on 28 August 2026, drew attention for its headline figures: $5.3 million recovered for almost 3,600 direct care employees.

Edbert Ongko is the founder of The Named Index, a free monthly index at namedindex.com. The business also offers a paid service to software vendors; no vendor was a client in the August or September 2026 editions, and position in the index cannot be bought. In this guest post, he looks at how much AI assistants' recommendations for aged care software change from one month to the next.

Southern Cross Care (NSW & ACT) has appointed Patrick Reid as its next Chief Executive Officer from January 2027. Mr Reid brings more than 25 years' experience across health, aged care and human services, having held senior leadership positions in large, complex and purpose-led organisations.

Around 160,000 older Australians receiving Support at Home could be malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, yet the program does not require providers to routinely screen participants for the condition, a Senate inquiry has heard. The estimate, presented to the inquiry by Eat Well Health director Andrew Martin, is based on published research indicating that 42% of older Australians receiving home care are either malnourished or at risk.

New analysis of 573 residential aged care services has found the AN-ACC funding model responded more strongly to physical immobility than cognitive load, with Class 8, the classification covering many ambulant residents living with dementia, and the only cognition class to record a funding reduction in last year's recalibration.

In this guest post by Neha Sabharwal, a US-based rehabilitation leader, she explores how gradual changes in mobility can be recorded without revealing a resident's declining independence. She argues aged care needs to move beyond documentation towards recognising trajectories and using existing data to trigger earlier intervention. Consider Helen, a composite of residents I have known. In March, she walks to the dining room on her own.

In this guest post, Rhys Greensill, Co-Founder of workforce management company Simplifi, examines why wage compliance has become a boardroom issue for aged care providers, as Fair Work Ombudsman enforcement intensifies. He highlights the growing financial and operational risks of payroll errors, the complexity of modern awards and the need for providers to strengthen systems, rostering and regular compliance audits.

Dementia research is entering a period of rapid progress, but a shortage of clinical trial participants could slow the development of new treatments and diagnostic tools, Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) has warned. The warning comes as ADI launches its 2026 World Alzheimer Report, A new era in dementia clinical trials, which identifies 158 potential therapies being evaluated across 192 clinical trials worldwide.