TECHNOLOGY AND SOFTWARE
Long-Term Solutions to Social Care Pressures
Jitesh Patel, Social Care Sector Lead at Kajima Partnerships, says it is vital for technology to support the COVID-19 vaccine in order to address entrenched strains on elderly care.
received the support they needed aſter discharge. Ensuring coordination between outpatient services and community care providers will leave residences well-equipped to support people in their recoveries.
News of COVID-19 vaccination programmes is a welcome relief during the UK’s third lockdown. Many are hopeful that this will alleviate pressures felt by care homes throughout 2020. However, the pandemic has exposed many long-established strains on our elderly living system, and vaccines are not the universal remedy. To offer prime support for both the elderly population and the NHS, digitally-capable facilities must be established, designed around new priorities in elderly living and supported by adaptable systems of tiered care.
COVID-19 has amplified the stresses on care homes. Currently, the UK’s total population of over 65s is 12.4 million, and building rates are increasingly inadequate to serve the 180,000 65-plus households that are forecast to be created annually over the next decade. There is clearly need for substantial development of elderly living environments.
The pandemic has highlighted new priorities, as well as solutions, in elderly care. Initiatives such as clustered housing can address infection risks, particularly in high- density environments of vulnerable individuals. Exposure and social distancing can be managed through designs that accommodate small groups. With en-suite rooms adjoined to communal living spaces, residents can enjoy privacy whilst maintaining vital social connections.
New constructions must be supported by tiered care. The one-level approach of care homes is not always appropriate, and housing needs to integrate individual and more acute care with community living. Isolation can be hugely detrimental to wellbeing, and currently more than 2.2 million people over 75 in the UK live alone.
With tiered care, residents can receive tailored support whilst retaining a sense of connection to their community. The care that they receive can be flexibly adapted and upgraded as their requirements increase. This is crucial in ensuring that individuals are confident in their right to privacy and dignity whilst maintaining social bonds.
It is equally important to institute systems of step-down care. In 2015, 20% of people reported feeling that they had not
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This can further alleviate stress on all elderly healthcare services. Bed-blocking is a long-established concern in hospitals, whilst a review of the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund recognised the significant extent to which specialist elderly housing can reduce pressure on the NHS. COVID-19 has compounded the routine winter strain on resources, so it is critical that enduring solutions are established.
With limited data collection in the early stages of the pandemic, this crisis has also highlighted that the digital capabilities of elderly care faculties are oſten insufficient. These environments need to capitalise upon readily available technologies to optimise care and make operations efficient and cost effective.
Services such as motion-operated controls can upgrade basic facilities, from doorways to lights. This will assist residents with limited mobility or dexterity whilst also restricting contact with communal surfaces. Reducing the spread of contamination in high-traffic areas will be of great impact even post-COVID.
Wearable devices can encourage independence whilst ensuring that individuals remain confident of their safety. Physical measures can be supported by digital infrastructure that ensures residents, staff and families can stay in touch through exceptional connectivity.
Centralised online databases can ensure that care notes are easily updated and accessible, and can be bolstered through virtual communications systems that offer e-consultations with care staff. Capabilities like these can address accessibility concerns, alongside sidestepping any issues for vulnerable people who are currently shielding.
The rollout of vaccines must be lauded but should not avert attention from entrenched pressures in elderly care. COVID-19 has highlighted the critical extent to which the sector requires modernisation. Digitally-equipped specialist housing will ensure that our ageing population receives care that encourages individual and communal wellbeing. Crucially, new approaches to elderly living will offer much-deserved support to healthcare services long into the future.
https://kajima.co.uk www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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