CARE PLANNING
right now. Choose technology with robust data to prove it works and ensure that the company provides training and back-up if things go wrong.
Don't just speak to the supplier. Talk to users about how it panned out for them, so you get independent evaluations.
THE FUTURE
Plenty of new developments could help deliver more personalised care to more people, faster, and with less effort. Many of these technologies use machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) to gather data which is then used to monitor clients' conditions and warn about present or future risks.
FALLS PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY
There are now systems that can monitor the health, history, habits, moods and behaviours of people and analyse the data to prevent falls in advance. Falls are the number one reason that the elderly end up in A&E. Around one in three adults over 65 and 50% of people over 80 will have at least one fall a year.
Data is collected about a client's condition, perhaps by a carer, including symptoms, medication, activity, eating and sleeping patterns and fed into the system, which analyses the data to predict the likelihood of falls. However, care providers must look at their response to the information delivered – how will they support someone at risk of a fall?
DIAGNOSIS OF CONDITIONS
The same kind of system can collect data that monitors a client's health, combining carefully selected readings, and analysing them to provide a diagnosis. The systems claim to work much faster than traditional diagnostic methods, and could save clients a doctor's visit.
TELECARE
A trial scheme in South London provided people with in-home sensors that monitored their levels of daily activities. Any changes, such as a lack of activity, trigger an alert to a carer or a family member and a responder being sent to offer support.
POTENTIAL DOWNSIDES
These are just three potential caretech solutions – but they need careful consideration. Some clients may feel under surveillance, or may feel pressured by loved ones into having systems installed, prompting family arguments.
Local authorities and some providers may use them as a way to deliver cheaper care with fewer carers, reducing care quality.
Whatever we think, caretech is here and providers must consider whether to use it. What is certain however, is that while technology can potentially improve care, it can never replace it. As care providers, we must ensure that it never does.
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Walfinch franchisee Tanya Santos has been involved in trialling a care management soſtware system called Birdie. “It has changed my life as a care provider,” says Tanya, who offers home care services in Chiswick, Hammersmith and Kensington, London. “It can be used to help us create care plans, based on the client's lifestyle, history, medication, preferences, even whether they have sugar in tea.”
It can also be used to simplify risk assessments of their environment, and record what they would like to happen as a result of getting a carer. “All of this information helps us and them plan their care and match them with the right carer,” Tanya says.
Carers can access the care plan via an app on their mobile phone. The app presents a list of what needs to be delivered and when, and carers can tick off each task. If they arrive on time and complete all their tasks, they get an upliſt in hourly pay. All the data is automatically delivered to the office.
“It's helped with maintaining punctuality and quality care, and if there are any issues, I can meet the carer to manage it,” says Tanya. “Risk assessments and scheduling are far easier than under the older system we were using.”
The data can also be used to monitor compliance with CQC regulations, so compliance managers can use it to monitor performance and advise about how performance can be improved to better achieve 'outstanding' ratings.
Information about clients can also be shared with their chosen family members, which increases family wellbeing and trust, and there is a QR code included on the app that means in emergencies details of the client's condition and medications can be shared with emergency services staff.
As for AI-based technologies such as fall-prediction soſtware, Tanya says: “Some clients would welcome this, others might not. Primarily people want to be heard and comforted, and like the human touch that only dedicated carers can deliver. Technology can be used to improve care, but it can never replace it.”
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