New palliative care digital dashboard developed by ELDAC

The first of November marked an important turning point for aged care in Australia.

With the introduction of the new Aged Care Act, the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, and the commencement of the Support at Home program, the sector has stepped into a new era.

Providers across the country are now working steadily to understand what these changes mean for practice, while still delivering safe and reliable care each day.

As aged care navigates this shift, one truth remains steady: older people and their families sit at the centre of care.

But another reality sits alongside this. A very large proportion of people receiving aged care, whether in residential aged care or through home care programs, are in the final years of their lives.

Their health needs evolve over time and often become increasingly complex and sensitive to even small changes. Most of the older people living in residential aged care will die there, while those who wish to remain at home will need growing support from home care providers as their health declines. Care at the end of life is, therefore, an everyday responsibility across the entire sector.

Providing this level of care requires skill, teamwork and time. Meanwhile, providers are facing the pressures of limited resources, rising demand and increasing expectations.

To maintain high quality person-centred care in this environment, tools that ease administrative pressure and support staff to focus on what matters most are vital. Thoughtfully designed digital systems that are built to align with real workflows and real clinical needs can be part of that solution.

One example of this is the palliative care digital dashboard developed through the End of Life Directions for Aged Care [ELDAC] project.

The ELDAC project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. It is managed by a consortium of three universities: Queensland University of Technology, Flinders University and University of Technology, and four senior sector organisations: Palliative Care Australia (PCA), Ageing Australia, Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) and Catholic Health Australia (CHA).

The ELDAC Digital Dashboard is evidence based, aligned with national policy, and mapped to the Aged Care Quality Standards.

It helps services use the digital data they already collect in a clearer and more meaningful way when planning, providing and reporting on care at the end of life. It is designed to support proactive care planning, and to offer clear, data-informed insights at the point of care. In doing so, the dashboard helps clinicians stay focused on what matters most to the older person and their family, and to respond in ways that are timely, consistent and aligned with best practice.

However, a digital tool is only as useful as its design and usability.

The aged care IT sector continues to work hard to support providers, yet the pace of reform and the diversity of needs mean that no single vendor can meet every need at once.

Services require tools that reflect policy expectations, align with care processes, and sit smoothly within the systems they already use. They also benefit from solutions that do not introduce new layers of dependence or require major redevelopment each time policy or practice evolves.

This is why the latest phase of the ELDAC Digital Dashboard is important. The dashboard is now available through Microsoft Power BI, a platform that many providers already use in their daily operations.
This allows services to integrate the dashboard into their current systems, configure it to reflect their own workflows, and adjust it as their organisation evolves.

It places capability in the hands of services and enables them to make timely improvements without waiting for large-scale system upgrades. This approach supports local problem solving, strengthens digital capability at the provider level, and helps create a digital environment where providers have genuine influence over how technology supports care.

Even as the sector adapts to this new reform landscape, one guiding principle remains clear: older people and their families deserve care that respects their choices, upholds their wishes, and provides comfort at the end of life.

Digital tools will not replace the human connections that define high-quality care, but when they are thoughtfully designed, evidence based and aligned with policy expectations, they can help the workforce provide care that is responsive and focused on the person.

The ELDAC Digital Dashboard offers one practical example of how digital tools can support staff and services to deliver quality end-of-life care while keeping attention on what matters most to the older person.

If you would like to learn more about the ELDAC Digital Dashboard or explore how it may support your service, please contact us at eldac.project@flinders.edu.au.

Dr Priyanka Vandersman is senior research fellow at Flinders University’s Research Centre for Palliative Care Death and Dying, which provides research for the ELDAC project.