Swapping carers for robots ‘will leave elderly lonely’

ELDERLY people need a guarantee from the Government that robots and remote-monitoring systems will not completely replace human carers in the future, a think-tank has said.

A report by the Social Market Foundation has raised serious fears that the introduction of technology from the “fourth industrial revolution” could increase loneliness among old people as it could be used to totally substitute “the human touch” in care.

While it also states there is a great potential to improve lives, it says the adoption of “care-bots” needs to be properly handled and not imposed on individuals without consent.

Ministers developing a cross-government strategy for the innovations in robotics should set up “consumer panels” to reflect the views of the public and should especially listen to the disabled and elderly, the report by the centre-Left think-tank said.

It suggested that the Care Quality Commission could introduce a new “fundamental standard” for care, insisting treatment is tailored to a person’s needs, and containing the requirement for the individual to provide consent before care is given.

Hilary Sutcliffe, director of SocietyInside, said: “We shouldn’t just consult people, they should co-create the tech with people. That’s a different thing and more important.

“So that how this technology works in practice is based on how we live, not how academics and company researchers in labs think we live.”