Aged care provider Thomas Holt has placed innovation firmly at the centre of its business model, an approach more aligned with a start-up than a 60-year-old company.
Chief Executive Officer Alexandra Zammit explains that the core of Thomas Holt's innovative philosophy is a “fail fast” approach to implementation.
“If you don’t fail fast and fail often, as well as consult with clients, staff and stakeholders along the way, you will remain static and it’s likely you won’t be sustainable over the long term,” Alexandra says.
Human touch
To keep ahead of the rapidly changing healthcare industry in Australia, Thomas Holt has created a state-of-the-art facility at its Kirawee site in Sydney which uses robotics, sensors and machine intelligence to create a unique care environment that can identify pending illness, stress and declining cognitive ability in its clients. All the information is fed into a database that helps create long-term care regimens and is easily accessible to families and their GPs.
Although the company is setting new standards of innovation, it still believes an old-fashioned human touch is vitally important.
“Technology frees up our staff to focus on the client, because, no matter how good robotics or artificial intelligence is, it can never replace one-on-one care,” Alexandra says.