Odgers Berndtson’s Chris Hamilton and Mike Drew explore the changing dynamics in homecare health services and its impact on leadership
The demand for homecare health services is rising rapidly.
An ageing population, a preference for at home treatment, and advancements in health technologies aiding remote care are fuelling the sector’s growth.
The Department for Health and Social Care expect 57 per cent more adults aged 65 and over in England will need homecare by 2038 compared to 2018.
This rise has already begun. The UK Homecare Association found almost three-quarters (74 per cent) of homecare providers saw demand for their services increase since 2022.
Despite this, the UK Homecare Association also discovered over half of homecare providers delivered less care in 2023 compared to the previous year.
As the Association themselves point out, “demand for homecare remains high, yet supply is not matching it.”
Challenges include recruitment and retention, a technology investment gap, and poor integration of home services with hospital technology and electronic health records.
Yet a shift to homecare is certainly under the way and will transform traditional healthcare delivery, creating new opportunities for patient-centred care.
From our conversations with industry leaders, this is how we are seeing the dynamics in homecare unfold.
Opportunities and challenges in technology adoption
Remote patient monitoring devices are enabling real-time tracking of patients’ vital signs and health metrics, creating proactive care management.
Similarly, voice-activated devices (like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant) are being used to help elderly or disabled patients control their environment and manage medications.
Combined with advanced data analytics, these technologies can help home healthcare providers gain insights into patient populations, optimise resource allocation, and predict healthcare trends, leading to more effective care strategies.
AI’s advancement poses even greater opportunities.
AI can analyse large datasets to predict patient outcomes, allowing home healthcare agencies to identify high-risk patients and intervene early.
This will help leaders optimise care plans, better allocate resources, and improve patient outcomes.
However, significant challenges lie in integrating home healthcare technology with broader healthcare systems, such as hospitals and primary care providers.
What’s more, different homecare providers may use various technologies, making it difficult to standardise care and share data across platforms and systems.
A workforce and leadership development gap
Many homecare health organisations are not prioritising leadership development, resulting in a gap between the leadership skills needed and those available within the organisation.
Likewise, very few homecare providers develop succession plans, resulting in leadership voids when key leaders leave the organisation.
This is particularly acute in technology leadership positions, where these skills are needed to capitalise on and implement new homecare health technologies.
Robust succession planning, including a technology specialism leadership track, is necessary to ensure providers can adapt and thrive.
A greater focus on leadership development is also needed in order to create more effective work environments, address recruitment challenges, burnout, and staff well-being.
In addition to general recruitment issues, there is a shortage of trained professionals equipped to handle complex care needs with emerging technologies.
As healthcare protocols evolve, employees require ongoing education and training, especially to use new healthcare technologies in the home.
This requires forward-thinking leaders who can balance the importance of learning and development, culture, and well-being with recruitment demands.
The need for visionary leadership
Visionary leadership and strategic planning is needed to guide homecare health providers through a rapidly changing healthcare landscape of regulatory shifts, technological advancements, and evolving patient needs.
Without these leaders, homecare organisations face missed opportunities and inefficiencies.
Much of this centres on workforce readiness with gaps appearing between workforce skills and technology demands.
For example, without the requisite skills, telehealth platforms may be poorly implemented and not fully integrated with other systems like electronic health records or remote monitoring devices, leading to poor patient outcomes.
Because of these complex challenges, homecare health providers are increasingly looking for leaders who can develop a clear, long-term technology roadmap that aligns with the organisation’s overall mission and goals.
This plan must include a vision for how they will foster a culture of innovation and continuous learning to encourage employees to engage with new technologies and think creatively about improving patient outcomes.
Finally, effective collaboration with technology partners is a non-negotiable leadership skill in an increasingly tech dominated sector.
Homecare health providers need leaders who can ensure systems are interoperable and scalable, and that the organisation can adapt to future changes in healthcare regulations, technologies, and patient needs.
Find out more about Odgers Berndtson here.
