Australia’s aged care sector is under increasing pressure. With an ageing population, growing demand for services and staffing shortages, providers are faced with delivering high-quality care with limited resources. At the same time, aged care workers are dealing with irregular shifts, fatigue and burnout. Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI). This technology is evolving every day and helping to shape the way staffing and scheduling are managed in aged care. From intelligent rostering systems to predictive analytics, AI is helping providers streamline workforce management, improve continuity of care and better support both residents and staff.

When it comes to the aged care industry, the staff sit at the centre of it. Their nurturing hands and patient demeanors offer the perfect support to our elderly population, helping them receive the care they deserve. Yet the workforce is struggling to keep up. Australia’s aged care sector will require an additional 110,000 workers by 2031 just to meet the projected demand. This rises to 400,000 by 20504, making it difficult to meet the basic standards of care.

So, what is holding people back from entering the industry? Firstly, shift work in aged care often involves early mornings, evenings, weekends and overnight duties. This unpredictability often results in fatigue and poor work-life balance that can contribute to burnout. There are also limited opportunities for full-time employment and career progression with the sector heavily reliant on casual and agency staff.

With these pressures, providers are on the hunt for innovative solutions to help, which is where AI comes in. It can make staffing smarter, faster and more responsive to both worker needs and resident care demands. It all comes down to technology. AI uses a computer system to complete tasks, such as learning from data, making predictions, solving problems and adapting to new information over time.

While still an emerging field, AI is already being applied in aged care across several areas:

• Predictive analytics to look at staffing needs or resident health risks.
• AI scheduling tools that create fair, efficient rosters based on real-time data.
• Digital assistants and chatbots that help staff access information quickly or log care activities.
• Remote monitoring systems that track resident movement, falls, or behaviour changes.

Importantly, AI doesn’t replace human workers. Instead, it takes over administrative tasks to allow them to spend more time on care. AI can help in key areas, including smart rosters, increased care and staff retention.

Let’s start by looking at the roster system. Traditional scheduling methods are often time-consuming, prone to error and limited in flexibility. AI rostering tools are changing that by offering intelligent, data-driven solutions that improve efficiency and fairness. AI scheduling systems sort through historical data, staff availability, qualifications, preferences and compliance rules to create optimised rosters. These systems can match staff to resident care needs (e.g., dementia care, mobility support), minimise fatigue by spacing out high-demand shifts, reduce overtime and fill last-minute shift gaps by identifying the most appropriate available team member in real time.

Unlike static rosters, AI systems can adapt to real-time changes:

• Manage unexpected sick leave or emergencies.
• Automatically notify staff of shift changes.
• Rebalance workloads across teams.
• Update schedules based on residents or occupancy rates.

Next, let’s move on to how AI can help improve resident-carer relationships. Staffing isn’t just about having enough people on the floor. It’s about ensuring the right people are in the right place at the right time. When AI is used to optimise rostering and workforce management, it directly contributes to better outcomes for residents through improved care continuity and personalised support.

By tracking resident-caregiver relationships and factoring them into scheduling, AI systems can:

• Foster trust between residents and staff.
• Reduce resident distress and confusion, especially for those with dementia.
• Promote emotional safety and comfort.

When integrated with electronic care records, AI systems can also offer insights about resident needs. This may include notifying teams when residents miss meals or require additional mobility support, suggesting adjustments to care routines based on behaviour or health trends and even identifying residents at risk of hospital readmission or deterioration.

Finally, with these measures in place, aged care settings are less likely to experience high staff turnover. With increased workplace satisfaction, AI-driven workforce tools are helping to shift this dynamic by giving aged care workers greater autonomy, fairness and work-life balance.

Staff are given more control to set their availability and preferred shifts, request time off and view upcoming rosters to plan ahead. AI also ensures there is no bias or favouritism by equally distributing night and weekend shifts, balancing high-demand duties, avoiding overload and supporting plenty of rest periods.

As the aged care sector continues to evolve, the role of AI is set to grow beyond rostering and shift allocation. We will see a deeper integration with electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical decision-support systems. This means:

• Automatically adjusting staffing based on care complexity.
• Allocating staff with specific skills (e.g. dementia care, palliative care) to match resident care.
• Forecasting upcoming resource needs based on admissions, discharges and health trends.

Emerging AI tools may soon support staff in real time through voice-activated digital assistants that help carers document tasks or access information hands-free, chatbots that handle basic scheduling questions or leave requests and predictive alerts for managers when potential understaffing, fatigue, or compliance risks are identified.

Artificial Intelligence is already transforming how Australia’s aged care sector manages one of its greatest challenges: staffing. As we look to the future, AI should be embraced not as a replacement for human care, but as a partner in delivering it. With the right tools, AI can help build a stronger, smarter and more compassionate aged care system.