The changing and ageing population is leading to skills shortages across every sector, an expert has suggested.

Speaking to CIO magazine, Sharon Lowry from Australasian software company ComOps focused on the search for suitable talent in the IT healthcare industry, saying that because today's workforce tends to be more mobile and less inclined to remain in one area of the market, there is a reduced certainty of retaining those employees at any given time.

"Healthcare is at the forefront of technology in terms of diagnostics and therapeutics but has been slow to uptake the peripheral solutions that would enable more reliable capture and interpretation of how information related to how the workforce was being used," she explained, going on to state that one of the ongoing difficulties for businesses was coping with the fluctuating requirement for resources.

Role transfer and substitution options have helped companies redistribute some of their skills, but proper training is the key to sustainability, Ms Lowry concluded.

Posted by Fiona Summers