FEATURE Backup Plan


Gavin Bashar, UK Managing Director of Tunstall Healthcare, discusses how technology is keeping people safe during the pandemic and the importance of investing to safeguard our services for the future.


24 hours a day. Operators can also make proactive calls to service users, checking on their wellbeing, offering advice and signposting to other services.


Smart solutions also help protect the safety of individuals, especially where residents are particularly frail or vulnerable, providing 24-hour reassurance. This improves quality of life whilst also enabling high-quality care to be provided.


The COVID-19 emergency has exacerbated pre-existing challenges and pressures on our health and social care services. Professionals in the sector have reached the point where caring for vulnerable people has become extremely difficult and tough decisions have to be made.


Technology has played a crucial role in supporting our services and protecting people throughout the pandemic. Even the government has understood the importance of technology during a crisis, highlighted by Secretary of State’s challenge to the technology sector to innovatively support the country through the current, unprecedented times.


Health and social care leaders need to be understanding of how technology has kept vulnerable people safe through the pandemic, and why we need to invest in technology to support our services in the future.


THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY NOW


The current public health crisis is placing pressure on our health, housing and social care services. Technology has supported us in addressing many of the challenges presented by the current emergency and offers effective resolutions.


Technology has a key role to play in increasing the capacity of our health and social care services, and enabling flexibility when delivering care. This will ensure care models provided are more proactive and predictive, and address future health and care challenges, such as another pandemic.


Assistive technology enables sophisticated remote monitoring and proactive care planning, ensuring care is provided when it is needed most. Discrete monitoring of activity in the home can detect deterioration in wellbeing at an early stage and enable interventions, which reduce or delay the need for more complex and costly care.


Technology systems can be tailored to the needs of every user, helping to automatically monitor risks inside the home, such as falls or fires, and giving vulnerable people the ability to call for help, from a range of stakeholders, in case of an emergency,


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Technology solutions have helped reduce the pressure on the NHS by enabling social care and housing providers to support people effectively. They can prevent admission to hospital by reducing the impact of self-isolation and mitigate the adverse effects of incidents such as falls, by enabling a rapid response.


Systems can also be deployed as part of a care package to enable people to be safely discharged from hospital more quickly, freeing up vital hospital beds. These solutions also allow vulnerable people with long-term conditions to actively manage their health effectively at home, even when services are stretched.


WHY SHOULD WE INVEST?


Technology can not only help address some of the immediate challenges presented by the current emergency, but also provide a robust platform for future health and care delivery.


Although health and social care professionals are focussed on treating COVID-19 patients and limiting the spread of the virus, there are many vulnerable adults who have needs which must still be met.


Progress in technology will benefit a huge number of people and allow care provision to continue, even under extreme circumstances. As we live longer, demands on public services will increase and


the impact of the changing health and care landscape needs to be considered. Industry leaders must continue exploring how they can improve the support they deliver and the ways in which technology enabled care can help people to live well, later in life.


www.tunstall.co.uk/covid-19-solutions www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


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