The future of adult care in the UK: looking ahead five years
The future of adult care in the UK: looking ahead five years
Admin
Oct, 2022 - 5 min
Patient Empowerment
The landscape of the healthcare system in the U.K. is exceptionally complex, and pressure for improvements continues to grow. With an ageing population and a declining birth rate, it’s imperative to find the best way to provide individualised and effective care for adults. What is the future of adult care and the healthcare sector in the U.K. headed in the next few years?
Accessible, managed care should allow patients to be an active part of finding the best solution for their health concerns. Patients need to have the knowledge and resources to take charge of their own health. The key to patient empowerment is leveraging the use of connected digital technology.
Mobile technology is one of the big keys to patient empowerment. This technology makes it easier for users to access health information including medical records and reminders of appointments or upcoming medication refills. The ability of patients to access comprehensive medical information on demand is expected to be enhanced in the next five years.
Patients must be encouraged to make educated decisions on what they believe they need for their health and well-being rather than allowing others to decide what’s in their best interest. No one knows your body as well as you do, so when you recognise changes in your own body and health, you should be able to connect with accessible health technology that allows treatment to get started sooner rather than later.
Digital Technology in Healthcare
Technology for health monitoring continues to make rapid advancements. Virtual conferencing lets you talk to a medical professional without leaving your home. Both physical and mental health can be monitored with the use of health monitoring technology, which has the potential to build an informative healthcare journey.
Remote patient monitoring is an especially important aspect of health tech. It allows medical professionals to support both high risk and low-risk patients while they’re at home. Wearables and sensors can alert you to subtle changes in your vital signs such as blood pressure or heart rate and can provide machine-assisted alerts and other data to dashboards. Being able to quickly alert a healthcare professional about a potential problem can lead to quicker recovery time and prevent some hospital admissions.
For patients facing mental health challenges, remote monitoring can track changes in heart rate, sleep habits, weight changes and signs of restlessness or agitation. These signs can alert a mental health professional of potential problems possibly even before the patient may realise symptoms are worsening.
The Future of Care at Home and Care Homes
Elderly or disabled patients living at home alone can communicate with healthcare professionals if there’s an injury or other type of emergency. Smartwatches or wristbands can send out a signal if the wearer doesn’t press a button when prompted.
For adults seeking healthcare at home, not having available skilled workers can affect the quality of care they can receive. Improved care at home requires trained healthcare workers who are paid a living wage. Recruiting skilled workers in this field can be challenging. Low wages make these workers feel undervalued and imply that healthcare workers are unskilled. Improving the wages of carers can lead to better quality care at home and better options for those looking for home care.
The need to fairly compensate and value workers is also apparent in care homes, which house people with complex health and social care needs such as dementia. A well-trained workforce is the key to making better patient-centred care, and improvements are needed in this area in the next few years.
Health Technology in NHS Sub-Sectors
The focus on improvements to the care industry must focus on more than just acute care. Technology for health has become an important part of all the NHS sub-sectors. These include:
- Primary – the first point of contact for illness or injury or for wellness visits
- Secondary – hospital or community care
- Tertiary – highly specialized treatment that requires advanced care
Some of the challenges to be faced in all sectors include training healthcare workers and improving interoperability among healthcare providers. This means exchanging data quickly and securely among internal and external providers.
One of the big questions the U.K. has to face in the next few years is whether the NHS. is prepared to deal with an ageing population in the U.K. There are as few as one geriatrician per 8,000 older people in the U.K. With specialists ageing and possibly needing geriatric care themselves, there could soon be a shortage of trained workers in the field of elderly care.
Going Forward
The pandemic has made many people more comfortable with using tech solutions for medical care. It became apparent during the pandemic that people were looking for low-contact solutions to the need for healthcare.
On November 1, 2022, the Future of Care Conference will address some of the challenges being faced by the healthcare sector including key issues and solutions. Leading experts will discuss challenges in the healthcare sector, digital innovation and upcoming strategies in the future of elderly care. Some of the topics covered include building a world-leading social care system, training and recruitment in adult care and trends and future challenges in dementia care.
Even though the future holds some challenges, there continue to be exciting new developments in technology for health. A better future in quality adult care in the U.K. requires addressing the challenges being faced and taking full advantage of new advancements in technology.
Sources:
https://www.axelainnovations.co.uk/blog/health-technology-improving-aged-patient-care
https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/g-cloud/services/689877945067343
Similar Articles
Hiring a care worker – Employer Challenges and What to do about them
It may seem like a piece of cake but in reality, being an employer has many nuances. If you’re hiring a caregiver privately, you need to take responsibility for your employee. Typically, people who receive Direct Payment or self-fund their care hire care workers independently. Let’s look at what it’s like to be an employer […]
Hiring a care worker –
It may seem like a piece of cake but in reality, being an employer has many nuances.
Pressure Ulcers
Pressure ulcers, also known as bed sores or pressure sores, are a genuine concern in elderly care. These ulcers occur when continuous pressure damages the skin and underlying tissues, ranging from persistent redness to deep, bone-exposing sores.
Cookies