Technology could help solve care crisis
WHICHEVER WAY you look at it, the UK’s social care system is under huge pressure. At current spending levels, a funding gap of £18bn will open up during the next decade, according to the Health Foundation.
In stark terms, this means increasing numbers of vulnerable people who need care and support because of age, illness or disability will be left to fend for themselves, which will put increasing strain on the front line of the NHS.
As The Yorkshire Post’s guest columnist Mike Padgham of the Independent Care Group pointed out last month, there are 1.5 million people now living without the care they need.
Don’t despair. Britain might be facing a ticking time bomb but new technologies are coming to the rescue and offer a new united front for our care services.
Simply put, the linking of remote monitoring devices with new wireless networks can transform the health and care system for the benefit of people, providers and the public purse.
Politicians of all stripes have been struggling to come to terms with the social care issue at the national level, but on the ground NHS and local government bodies are working together to integrate health and care services in regions across the country.
By combining forces and taking a joined-up approach, these new integrated care partnerships are designed to help people live healthier lives for longer and keep them out of hospital when they do not need to be there.
At the same time, a number of local authorities across the UK are starting to deploy low power wide area networks to enable the delivery of “smart city” services.
These are based on connected devices known as the Internet of Things that gather and share data to help improve public services and quality of life.
Such networks are easy to install, flexible, scalable, secure and, most importantly, inexpensive. They also work indoors and have long battery life.
Home monitoring and assisted living technologies have evolved in leaps and bounds in recent years. NHS trusts are embracing the opportunity to support independent living for patients and reap the productivity gains for over-stretched organisations.
Instead of travelling to hospital to attend clinic for routine outpatient appointments, people with long-term conditions are choosing to monitor themselves safely and securely in their own home with a hotline to their clinician when necessary.
Telehealth itself is nothing new. The hardware has been around for decades but still tends to be expensive and available only as an inflexible one-sizefits-all package.
Unsurprisingly, this approach does not always meet individual need. It certainly struggles to share vital information between the different parts of the health and care system in a nonclunky way.
This is where we see the innovation coming as cloud-based services democratise access to clever new technologies that previously would have been prohibitively expensive.
New services can be redesigned around the need of the individual. A portfolio of different sensors for care providers to choose from, according to personalised need. A monitor for falls? Check. A kettle sensor to monitor regular use? Check. A weekly digital questionnaire for a long-term condition? Check.
Sensors are installed in the home, connected to the wireless network and programmed to send timely messages to family and carers so they can intervene when necessary.
This is one way to design a digital health and care service for the modern age. We call it the citizen-centred approach.
It bridges the gap between health and social care at home with a simple set of sensors and supporting software. These enable the seamless sharing of information between different systems, carers and relatives.
Home monitoring technology is coming of age.
The switching off of old copper telephone lines, expected in the coming decade, will be a watershed moment. Wireless networks are rolling out across the country.
A solution is emerging for Britain’s social care crisis.
You might even call it a revolution.