Elderly patients don’t need Robodoc, they need the human touch

Dear God, just when I thought we had reached rock bottom in our treatment of old people, it appears we are poised to plumb new depths.

Robocare is the latest idea to feature in a Lancet Commission report, of all places. This would see robots feeding, washing and helping dementia patients with mobility. Let’s just think about that for a moment. You are frail and frightened of the disease that is robbing you of your memory and other faculties.

You may not have had a hug since your spouse died years previously, and visits from your family have tailed off. Or maybe you just don’t recall them. You feel increasingly isolated, confused, distressed, but instead of a bustling care worker pointing out the sunny day, the garden in bloom, you have a machine attending to your needs.

Your physical requirements, that is, not your emotional ones. How bleak is that? Looking after those with dementia is not easy. But living with dementia is much, much worse. What does it say about our humanity if we outsource care of the vulnerable to robots?

Hi-tech gadgets are more efficient at many tasks; GPS trackers stop patients getting lost, smartwatches collect data

such as blood pressure. But they are no substitute for human touch – literally, as in washing and feeding; metaphorically, as in conversation and compassion.

Is technology being harnessed to free staff so they have the time to sit and interact with patients? I doubt it. The truth is that people need people. We are social animals and our psychological and physiological well-being are closely linked.

What happened in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, when patients suffering from depression, chronic pain or recovering from strokes were prescribed art and poetry courses on the NHS? GP consultation rates dropped by 37 per cent, hospital admissions by 27 per cent.

My guess is that it wasn’t the iambic pentameters or the sketching that made the difference, but spending time with others in a shared experience. Why do we think dementia sufferers deserve anything less?