UK has only 'dipped its toes in water' over technology adoption

Health and social care services are ‘stuck in the past’ and have only ‘dipped their toes in the water’ when it comes to taking advantage of technology to help support carers and people with long-term conditions, a new report claims.

Most of us book holidays, buy insurance and do our shopping online, yet approaches to arranging care for your elderly parent or booking childcare support for a disabled child are stuck in the past. It is time to change this

According to the document released this week by Carers UK, the NHS, local authorities and private-and third sector providers need to do more, not only to embrace technology for the delivery of health and social care services, but also to support the 6.5 million people in the UK who look after a vulnerable or sick friend or relative.

The charity is particularly keen to see more interest in, and adoption of, telehealth and telecare devices, comparing the impact widespread use would have on the efficient delivery of services to that of the introduction of domestic appliances such as washing machines. The report states: “Its adoption and use should see more time dedicated, and more value given, to the irreplaceable interpersonal elements of health and care, much as the adoption and use of domestic appliances allowed our grandmothers to spend more time with their children and less on housework.”

Entitled Care and Technology in the 21st Century , the report calls for a number of actions, including:

• The launch of an independent expert taskforce bringing together government and key stakeholders including researchers, developers, businesses, providers, employers, employer organisations, regulators and users in an effort to unlock the potential of technology. Its role would be to identify the benefits of health and care technology across different areas of government; build a coherent evidence base; increase public and professional awareness of technologies; provide advice, information, promotion and marketing; collaborate to develop and implement innovation, help to mainstream technology through government policy; and incentivise service development and business growth
• Improved public awareness, not only of what technology can offer in public services, but also how it can be used for self care. The report states: “From the multitude of self-care websites and home health monitoring applications, to widely popular devices such as the WiiFit, technology has the potential for improving sustainability in health and care by helping people to take more responsibility for their own health and thus make fewer demands on the system as a result of acute or chronic conditions related to lifestyle choices.”
• Empowerment of the health and social care workforce. The report says: “Technology can only be embedded in service delivery by a workforce that is empowered and not threatened by it. This technology is not designed to, and never should, replace people.”
• Improvements to high-speed broadband availability. The document states: “The web is the delivery mechanism for many of these technologies, for example telehealth monitoring or remote consultation, so access to high-speed broadband is an even greater imperative. Families and carers must have access to, or be signposted to, the interenet as the principal provider of information on what technology and products are available.”
• Innovations in housing design that will see homes with the capacity to support technology solutions built in
• Increased identification of carers by primary care providers. These providers must then direct carers to technological solutions
• Improved support for carers from employers. The report states: “It is essential that the bottom line benefits of supporting working carers are recognised and promoted by employers to employers, but also more widely to policy makers. Employers who use all the resources available to them, including technology, to enable people to manage their complex caring and working lives will be rewarded tenfold by benefits in retention, resilience and recruitment and results in improved productivity, increased morale and reduced absenteeism.”

The report comes as it is revealed there are currently 15 million people in the UK who have at least one long-term health condition. Treating these people costs 70% of the NHS’s annual budget and numbers are expected to rocket by 23% over the next 20 years. The Department of Health is also predicting a 252% increase in the number of people over the age of 65 who have a long-term condition by 2050.

The number of carers is also expected to increase rapidly as the population ages, from 6.5 million to at least 10 million by 2037. And, as soon as 2017, the number of older people needing care will outstrip the numbers of working-age family members currently available to meet that demand.

Most of us book holidays, buy insurance and do our shopping online, yet approaches to arranging care for your elderly parent or booking childcare support for a disabled child are stuck in the past. It is time to change this

The report says: “As the world shrinks and business globalises, many of these carers will not only not be in the same household or town as the family member they are supporting, they will not be in the same country, with trends in migration also adding to this number.

“New challenges need new solutions, and, at a time when care and caring have never had a higher public and political profile, new thinking is needed. This paper looks at how technologies can transform the way people live, work and care, can achieve sustainability in health and care and can positively contribute to the economy.”

Helen Herklots, chief executive of Carers UK, added: “Families are struggling to juggle increasingly busy work and family lives and the potential for technology to support them has not yet been realised. Most of us book holidays, buy insurance and do our shopping online, yet approaches to arranging care for your elderly parent or booking childcare support for a disabled child are stuck in the past. It is time to change this.”

She said improvements in technology adoption must keep up with the current health and social care reforms, with patients and carers fully supported in using new innovations.

Most of us book holidays, buy insurance and do our shopping online, yet approaches to arranging care for your elderly parent or booking childcare support for a disabled child are stuck in the past. It is time to change this

She added: “As we grapple with meeting this challenge in times of austerity, reform of the social care system must be accompanied by innovation that matches this century’s demographic imperatives and creates modern care solutions.

“Just as online tools, social media and ‘apps’ have revolutionised how many of us plan our lives, socialise and enjoy entertainment, technology has the capacity to bring about a radical shift in care services and change how families care for ill, frail or disabled loved ones alongside work, family, community and social lives.

“We have an opportunity to shift perceptions away from simply seeing an ageing population and rapidly increasing demand as a challenge for public services. A growing and increasingly technology-savvy older population, and younger disabled people finding ways in which technology can change their lives, present huge opportunities for innovation and growth in the technology market.

The evidence shows that telehealth and telecare are good value for money and well accepted by their users - an obvious win-win

“We have dipped our toes in the water with limited use of health technologies and telecare, which has shown us not only the life-changing impact technology can have for families, but the opportunities for efficiencies and cost savings in service delivery. This paper surveys this current landscape and explores ways in which we can start to build a technology-enabled vision for the future of care.

“The evidence shows that telehealth and telecare are good value for money and well accepted by their users - an obvious win-win. However, health and local authorities must be ambitious about what can be achieved and how, and invest to realise the full potential of today’s and tomorrow’s technologies.”

A growing and increasingly technology-savvy older population, and younger disabled people finding ways in which technology can change their lives, present huge opportunities for innovation and growth in the technology market

The report sets out a number of ways in which technology can help. These include:

• By sustaining independent living and giving choice and control to older and disabled people and their families and carers
• By making health and social services more sustainable in the face of demographic change, delivering cost efficiencies, supporting systems integration, and transforming the way health and social care professionals work
• By supporting new and flexible ways of working in any field and helping people to better manage or extend their working lives, in particular when combining paid work with unpaid care
• By opening new markets in the health and care supply sector

This final point is seen as crucially important and the report urges the business community to work together to design and deliver innovative solutions that include services and delivery, not just the products themselves.

For the kinds of flexible services that families will increasingly demand we need the innovation that will see technology and service chains brought together to offer a service proposition, rather than just a piece of kit

It states: “The market for health and care technologies, both ICT and hardware, is currently underdeveloped and still largely targeted at statutory agencies such as health and local authorities. There are real opportunities for the private purchase market, but it needs incentivising and shaping and investment not only in products, but in end-to-end services, and, above all, in marketing them to the consumer.

“For the kinds of flexible services that families will increasingly demand we need the innovation that will see technology and service chains brought together to offer a service proposition, rather than just a piece of kit. We need incentives, not just for developing technology, and not just for developing flexible care services, but for developing them together to maximise their impact.

“Investment in the kinds of technologies described in this paper will quite simply be essential if the UK is to maintain its productivity and competitiveness. We have already described the challenge an ageing population presents, not only to the UK but to the rest of Europe and beyond, but it also presents opportunities for developing innovative solutions which could see new markets emerging and expanding. This is a global challenge and it presents an opportunity to compete on a global stage.”

The report has been welcomed by both health and social care organisations and suppliers. Peter Hay, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and strategic director of adults and communities at Birmingham City Council, said: "Telecare technology makes it possible to provide support that isn't intrusive, gives confidence and is affordable, so it has to be part of today's offer to carers and people with care needs. It's as life changing as a carer getting proper sleep because technology can take the place of the carer having to sleep with one ear open."

And Mike Biddle, innovation platform leader at the Technology Strategy Board, added: "By investing in and promoting new technologies we are looking at a triple win - improving health and quality of life, making health and social care services more sustainable and also in making the UK a world leader in emerging health and care technology."

Click here for the full report