Ryman Healthcare is on the cusp of significant growth as people born in the late 1930s and early 1940s decide to leave their own homes and move into care, chief financial officer David Bennett says.
The United Nations had indicated the world was facing unprecedented change in demographics and for New Zealand and Australia, the health of people was the biggest challenge, he said.
There had been much talk about the baby-boomers but the generation before was a large consumer of retirement products, he told the recent Craigs Investment Partners investor day in Queenstown.
"The next 30 to 40 years is a big step up on what it's been. We are very excited but it is about what we have done, we have to do better.''
Ryman had introduced technology - myRyman - to help staff be more reactive to the needs of patients. Instead of a nurse taking notes and writing them up later, the technology meant instant responses to things such as high blood pressure or unexplained weight loss.