Non-profit aged care provider HammondCare tapped German enterprise monitoring solutions provider Paessler to proactively monitor its IT infrastructure across the country.
With more than 5,100 dedicated staff and volunteers, HammondCare provides aged care, dementia care and palliative care to approximately 34,000 clients at more than 92 service locations across Australia.
It deployed Paessler PRTG, a round-the-clock network monitoring software, across 76 of its care facilities.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
“HammondCare’s primary goal in implementing the Paessler PRTG monitoring platform is to provide our team with proactive insights and alerts to mitigate past frequent incidents,” said manager infrastructure and cloud said Kasun Haputhanthri.
Since implementing the PRTG software, it has reduced IT team calls out by 75% to resolve issues that can lead to IT outages.
According to the press release, the system can quickly identify and resolve potential problems by sending alert Microsoft Teams, forward emails to the appropriate technicians, and push notifications of anomalies via the PRTG mobile app.
Haputhanthri states: “Paessler PRTG has enabled faster resolution of IT issues, allowed me and my team to be more proactive and efficient, and ultimately achieved our primary goal of minimizing downtime.” .
HammondCare currently uses more than 2,500 network sensors as part of its PRTG system and plans to add more in the future. It is also currently adding surveillance for essential healthcare devices such as nurse call buttons and is planning to digitize all of its assets that PRTG can track.
TREND TO BIGGER
In 2021, the Royal Commission on Aged Care Quality and Safety noted that the aged care sector is “very similar” and “behind” other areas in the use and application of using modern technologies. The newly established Aged Care Technology Consortium also revealed in a report last June that there is a lack of implementation of digital systems in the aged care sector.
To this end, the federal government announced in October that it is committed to AU$312.6 million (approximately $200 million) in funding over four years to improve information and communication technology systems in the sector.
In other related news, HammondCare recently trialled telehealth for customers of home care packages living in remote areas of New South Wales. Its Virtual Restorative Care program connects these home care clients with occupational therapists, dietitians, physiotherapists and physiotherapists through virtual technology.
