Speaking at an Enterprise Ireland trade mission in Sydney, Malcolm Alder, said that aged healthcare was a "burning issue" and the infrastructure provided by the NBN would deliver technological advances that could help aged care.

Alder shared the findings of an e-health pilot that he was involved with at a rest home in Foster, NSW, this year.

"The staff had been there 15 to 20 years and were not overly computer illiterate," he said "The thought that a whole bunch of [e-health] technology was going to descend on them was scary."

However, when the staff discovered that the technology was going to make their life easier and the quality of the residents that they were caring for better, their attitude changed, he said.

The rollout included radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging of lifting equipment, iPad tablets for use by staff and interactive games for residents.