FEATURE
Innovation for the sake of innovation is not a luxury the social care sector can really afford. Bill Mumford, CEO of MacIntyre and board member of NIACE, was keen to point out that investment should be made in things that do work, instead of the things that one would like to work.
There needs to be a shift in thinking towards innovation being a positive, cost-effective solution to improve quality of care and service.
It’s important to get the balance right between investment, money-saving and life improvement. “Sometimes the best pieces of technology and innovation are the simplest,” said Toni Fyfe of Real Life Options.
She firmly believes that the things which are making lives better for those who receive services from the social care sector are the simple things like adapted plugs, ovens that go cold immediately after use to avoid burns and so forth.
With these simple technologies already in existence, could it be that they are just being underused in the social care sector? As Shirley Ayres pointed out, perhaps what is lacking is “a central resource to find out what is available, whether they have been rigorously and independently validated and to share learning and experiences about what works and why.”
Where knowledge is power, it can be easy to find yourself stuck in the middle of the innovation maze wondering which route to take.
What’s undeniable is that a hypothesis of the benefits of an innovative solution are not enough – it’s important have real evidence of what they can do, how they can help and, importantly, how effective they are.
twitter.com/TomorrowsCare
Any technology needs to be able to show tangible results – be it lower numbers of reports of injury or trackable progress-checkers in technologies that assist with learning and communication.
Insane Logic’s MyChoicePad language development platform is one example of this. Designed to help people with speech and language difficulties to learn to communicate more effectively using signing and symbols, MyChoicePad includes an analytics section where progress can be tracked and monitored.
3
Collaborate before you innovate – and keep the
end-user in sight For any sector where budgets are small and there’s little to no margin for error, then there is great strength in numbers and, perhaps, economies of scale. The speakers on the panel all felt very strongly that collaboration was the way forward, as well as realising that something ‘new’ is not necessarily the only way to think about innovation. The innovation could be adapting existing technologies and solutions for a new sector, not in creating a new solution where one already exists.
Collaboration may not be as brash as simply pooling money together, but companies with a common purpose could come together to research and discuss potential solutions and share experiences of technologies that have already been tried and tested.
Keeping the end-user in sight is the most important part of introducing any technology. Bill Mumford warned: “Too often technology is seen solely as a money-saving exercise, with little regard for personalised delivery – the ‘wellbeing’ factor must be taken into consideration.”
The discussion at the event highlighted the importance of keeping it simple, ensuring that there is evidence of success and not innovating for the sake of innovation.
#innovatecare – be part of the debate
• We have got to be radical & disrupt because what we’ve got is not fit for purpose #innovatecare @kittycormack
• #innovatecare Bill Mumford (CEO of MacIntyre) – Where does investment come from? What are the best partnerships? Can health/care be joined? @clarkmike
• Stop innovating, start scaling the innovation that’s already there <& works> @MindingsStu
• #innovatecare @bill_mumford talking about lack of customer service skills in social care. I believe we should hire for compassion. @firstintheq
• #innovatecare does digital innovation in social care need to be social care specific or can we make better use of mainstream technology? @longhouseman
• Christine Astbury from WCS Care finds existing technologies used well – e.g. Skype – are most helpful #innovatecare @helenjgracie
• Technology should improve human interactions between patients/clients and doctors/ carers not replace it #innovatecare @seewhatimean_
The golden thread running through all of this is to make sure that whatever is chosen meets the needs of those it is meant to help.
Wasting money on unnecessary or unreliable solutions will negatively affect service users in the long run. Keeping them front and centre at all times will always help to ensure that your innovation is worthwhile and cost effective.
Follow Insane Logic on Twitter @InsaneLogicUK
www.insanelogic.co.uk - 13 -
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50