Imagine if healthcare workers could reclaim hours of their day, freeing them from tedious admin tasks to focus solely on patient care. That's the bold vision behind Uniting NSW.ACT's groundbreaking use of GenAI, and it's already transforming the way frontline care operates. But here's where it gets controversial: while the technology promises efficiency, some worry about the potential dehumanization of care when relying too heavily on AI. Could this innovation truly enhance the human touch, or might it inadvertently diminish it? Let’s dive in.
Uniting NSW.ACT has launched a revolutionary digital solution, a mobile application named ‘Buddy,’ designed to empower care workers by providing on-the-go access to critical enterprise systems. Built on the Azure OpenAI Service, Buddy leverages generative AI to simplify administrative chores, such as logging in-home visits and retrieving internal policy details. This shift allows employees to bypass the need to log in from a company center, streamlining tasks like accessing human resources and payroll systems.
At the Gartner IT Symposium on the Gold Coast, Uniting’s Chief Information Officer, Andrew Dome, highlighted the app’s core mission: “The main driver for Buddy is to shrink 15-to-20-minute tasks into one-to-two-minute activities, effectively giving our employees 15 minutes back in their day.” This time, he emphasized, is redirected toward what truly matters—spending more quality time with clients. And this is the part most people miss: by reducing administrative burdens, Uniting isn’t just saving time; it’s redefining the caregiving experience, prioritizing human connection over paperwork.
Uniting, a leader in residential and community care with a client base of 160,000 (including 118,000 receiving in-home care), began developing Buddy after Microsoft approached them as a potential partner for exploring generative AI solutions. Dome reflects, “We raised our hand, and fortunately, Uniting’s stable foundational platforms allowed us to innovate in exciting ways.” Over 12 months, in collaboration with Microsoft partner HSO, Uniting built Buddy’s enterprise infrastructure on Azure, simultaneously working on their first genAI case study: improving employee access to organizational policies and procedures.
Here’s the twist: Uniting deliberately chose a low-risk use case, utilizing publicly available policy data from their intranet. Dome explains, “We weren’t introducing external data; the challenge was simply making existing policies discoverable.” Through Buddy, employees now access policy information via SharePoint, alongside scenario-based guidance, all through a user-friendly chatbot interface. The app also features voice-to-text transcription for case notes, eliminating the previous need for care workers to drive to a Uniting center, log into a desktop, and manually input visit details—a process that once consumed 15-to-20 minutes per client.
Now, care workers verbally record notes on their smartphones, which Buddy transcribes, summarizes, and integrates into Uniting’s care management system. Dome notes, “With 9,000 employees seeing five-to-six clients daily, Buddy is saving them one to two hours per day, time now dedicated to enhancing client care.”
But here’s the question that sparks debate: As AI takes over administrative tasks, are we risking the loss of the personal touch that defines quality care? Or is this the perfect marriage of technology and humanity, where efficiency amplifies compassion? Share your thoughts below—we’d love to hear your perspective on this transformative yet contentious topic.
