CARE PLANNING Raising EXPECTATIONS
The Government wants home care technology to deliver customers with choice, control and independence, but research conducted by Secure UK Ltd suggests that, to date, ambitions have been more limited. Paul Botsford, Head of Assisted Living Technology & Services at Secure, the developers of Beanbag Care, discusses.
In its recently published Adult Social Care Reform White Paper, The Department of Health & Social Care has vowed to put ‘People at the Heart of Care’ – and fix a system that for too long has been failing carers and the people they care for.
The importance of technology in improving people’s lives is prevalent
throughout the report, and the Government is quick to earmark money for innovation: ‘At least £150m of additional funding to drive greater adoption of technology and achieve widespread digitisation across social care. Digital tools and technology can support independent living and improve the quality of care.’
From my perspective, the publishing of this report couldn’t have been timelier, as it comes hot on the heels of research commissioned and published by Secure UK Ltd on the state of play of technology in the commercial home care market.
Our survey engaged with commercial home care business managers and owners from across the UK, and sought to understand how home care businesses have been deploying technology – and what their expectations are for innovation moving forward.
ASPIRATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY
‘The People at the Heart of Care’ whitepaper is very upbeat on the potential of digital solutions: “When technology is embedded seamlessly into care and support services, it can be transformative, helping people to live happy, fulfilled lives in their homes and communities. Digital tools can also be used to identify risk, prevent incidents from occurring and ensure quick and appropriate responses to avoidable events.”
And on the face of it, our survey suggests that home care businesses share that, with 57% believing that technology enabled care (or TEC), is already having an impact on the industry.
However, when businesses were asked what TEC they have invested in, it paints a very different picture.
Rather than embedding smart home monitoring and decision making solutions into their services, domiciliary businesses have instead overwhelmingly sought solutions that improve and aid care scheduling and the management of carers.
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More than nine in ten (95%) now use care scheduling technology, while 86% have adopted soſtware that monitors or interacts with carers via smart phone apps.
MAKING SAFE CHOICES
There is a ‘safe’ logic to this trend, as these solutions are primarily about improving existing services and processes, and appear to offer the fastest, least disruptive path to improvement.
There’s no need to ‘disrupt’ those in receipt of care place devices in customer homes, in fact customers will probably remain oblivious to their very existence as it’s all usually behind the scenes.
But there’s a big difference between making the ‘home care trains’ run on time, and changing the care timetable.
The latest smart TEC solutions are now addressing some of the long-term frailties that have dogged the home care industry for decades, including staffing shortages, low profit margins and inconsistent standards in care and customer service.
However, home care businesses can definitely be forgiven for asking: Who should carry the financial burden of smart, home TEC?
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