Assistive technology — a balancing act
Barbara Archer warns of some of the pitfalls in deploying telecare
technology. She has worked for nearly 25 years for Northampton County
Council in various posts covering home care, residential care, training and
care management, and for the last three-and-a-half years exclusively in the
dementia and assistive technology area of the Council’s Safe-at-Home
telecare trial.
ABSTRACT
Various research reports have made it clear that the majority of older
people want to remain independent where at all possible with services being
delivered to them at home.
The pressures of increased demand for services, the need to meet targets
and for solutions to be financially viable and the shortage of care staff
act as encouragement to use assistive devices as a quick fix, an easy option
and an inexpensive answer to the problems that local authorities and others
face.
In order to prevent the inappropriate use of technology, we need to be
sure that we are using the correct assessment tools for each service-user
group; are able to evaluate correctly the urgings of carers, relatives and
technophiles to use new technology; and continue to strive for solutions
that are needs led rather than service driven.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2006; 23(8): 19–20. |
