Editorial – Aged Care informatics – Preparing for the road ahead

We are grateful to the electronic Journal of Health Informatics (eJHI) for the opportunity to present this special issue on aged care informatics. The journal has continued to be a strong supporter of aged care informat-ics and the huge potential contribution that information technology (IT) can make to improve the quality and safety of aged care. Five years have now passed since the appearance of the last eJHI special issue on aged care informatics in 2007, signalling the role that technology can make to enhancing the safety and independence of older people [1]. Much has happened since then, and it is appropriate to reflect on our progress, highlight some of our key achievements and use this special issue to re-focus at-tention on some of the key challenges that confront us into the future. Ping Yu’s review of “Aged Care IT in Australia – the Past, Present and Future ” is a feature of this special issue [2]. Yu writes with first-hand experi-ence of some of the major developments in aged care informatics in the last ten years, outlining the spectac-ular growth of electronic systems in aged care and the development of a strong commercial presence in the sec-tor. According to Yu, the next stage of development will focus on the diffusion of electronic clinical and care management systems for community care, including telehealth applications [2]. The research papers appearing in this special issue highlight some of the key developments pointed to i