Supporting Independent Living

Introduction Technology has changes the way services are delivered in health and social care setting. Not only that technology has enable health and social care organization to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in administration work, but it has also enabled people with different form of disability live a more independent life. This paper examines the use of assistive technology in health and social care services to support independent living for people with disability, long term condition and the older population all of who relies on the support of other. The paper examines the government strategies for independent living, ethical consideration in the use of assistive technology, and the emerging trend in assistive technology. The paper also evaluates the barrier and benefits of using assistive technology to support independent living. 1.1explain how technology can be used to support users of health and social care services in living independently According to Gillinson et al, (2005), independently living refers to the ability to perform daily tasks without or with little help of others. Various efforts are put in place by the Government to help people with disability live a more independent life through the help Assistive technology. According to foundation for assistive technology (FAST, 2001), assistive technology refer to any devices or system designed to support and enable people with disability and older people live and independent live. The term assistive technology has been used to cover wide range of equipments and systems such as walking stick, electro mechanical equipments e.g. powered wheel chair, electronic equipment such as environmental controls devices etc. The pictures below show some example of assistive technology. Figure 1 and 2 shows a powered wheelchair which is used to help people with mobility impairment such as Sally to move around e.g. going to toilet, going to work, going to shopping without much reliance on caregiver. Figure 3 shows and example of text and image enlargement devices that enable people with vision impairment (low vision) to reader text on their own without depending on the help of caregiver. The three figures below is an example of how technology is being used in health and social care to promote independent living In Sally case scenario, there are several assistive technologies that are available to assist her to continue enjoying an independent life as she used before. One of such devices includes the powered wheel chairs like the one pictured below.This devices will enable her to continue to attending to her works and continue enjoying her social life without depending on anybody. A scooter can also be used instead of Wheel chairs. This would be more appropriate especially when she is to walk a long distances. Walking stick can also enable sally to gain her mobility back. It can be help to her especially when walking shorter distances such as going to bed, going to toilets, supporting herself when cooking, ironing and performing other daily tasks. There are several strategies put in place by the government to ensure technology is being used in health and social care to support independent living. One of the government strategies to promote independent living is proper funding to ensure cost is no longer barrier to acquiring assistive device. Personal budget plan is a form of funding given to people with disability to help them pay for health and social care services of their choice (DH 2011). Another strategy being used by the government to support independent living is through the use of policies. For instances the government has made an offences to discriminate on ground of disability. The government aim is to create equal employment opportunity so that disabled people can gain financial independences. Finally, the government is increasing supporting and commission research and development of assistive technology so that devices are easily available to user, for instances the, installation of telecare and telehealth system in NHS (DH, 2011   1.2 analyze barriers to the use of technology to support users of health and social care services in living independently There are several barriers to the use of technology to support independent living in health and social care that might be faced in Sally case scenario. According to Morris (2003), one of the barriers to the use of assistive technology is the unwillingness of the patients to adopt the use of ICT to support them. Sally must consent to the assistive technology used to him by the specialist. If she refuses to give her consent it then means that such devices will not be used by her. According to Morris (2003), some of the factors that contribute to unwillingness to use a certain assistive technology include perceived complication of use, unclear benefits, inconveniences and threat to personal contact as well as individual personality. The health care involved in sally case scenario should educate Sally about the use of assistive technology and the benefits she will get by using them. This would help increase her chance of accepting any devices recommended to her. Financial challenges/affordability- the use of technology to support independent living has been limited by cost factor. The costs of acquiring some of these devices are two beyond the capability of many. According to a study conducted by Comyn,et al (2006) Majority, of the respondent expressed their willingness to used assistive technology but cannot do so due to their inability to pay for them. Any devices recommended to sally by her assistive technology specialist may prove to be costly to acquire. In this case, financial cost may limit Sally ability to live independent life. The health care professional involved in Sally case can however help her overcome this barrier by guiding and helping her get the government support which come in form of personal health budget. Scooter or powered wheels which are essential to support Sally developing condition may require some skills to use them. Lack of these skills may prevent Sally from accessing and using. As noted by (Comyn et al 2006), Majority of Disabled people shy away from assistive technology due to lack of proper skills to use them and perceived complication in their use. This barrier can however be removed by education Sally on how to operate and handle powered wheel chair or the scooter. 1.3 explain the benefits of these technologies to health and social care organizations and their users The use of assistive technology in health and social care services has several benefits both to the user of the services and the care provider. Beech and Robert (2008) noted that, assistive technology enable service user to live a more independent life. It enable servicer user to do daily task required for independent living such as cleaning, bathing, eating, walking and related activities which were beyond their ability. It also enables them to make informed choice about what kind of services are appropriate for them. For instance, internet access enable services user to gather information about available services and also to older for the services of their choice. In our case scenario, Sally can continue to live more independent live if assistive devices such as scooter or wheel is provided to her to enable mobility. In this case assistive technology would help Sally continue to attend to her work and do other social and essential needs despite her developing condition without depending on someone. Equally assistive devices such as text enlargement or text-to speech translation software can be used to compensate for her recent vision impairment Beech and Roberts (2008) also noted that assistive technology play a very important role in reducing risk such as accident and fall in home. For instance, through the monitoring system, the care giver can easily detect when an accident is about to happened and provide appropriate services response. Sally developing condition mean that her body is becoming weaker and it is likely that her feet will be unable to support her body in future. This means than mobility is going to be more difficult for her and chances of risks such as falling are high. The use of wheel or scooter can help supplement the mobility ability. Study has also linked assistive technology with improvement in quality of life for people with Special needs especially people with disability and older people. As mentioned by Curry et al (2002), Beech and Roberts (2008), the use of communication technology such as SKYPE has help improve the social life of the service user. Mobility devices have also made it possible for people with mobility impairment to visits friend, family and attend to social gathering. As noted by Joseph and Orr (2013), assistive technology has also made it possible to deinstitutionalize people with disability. Through the use of technology, people with disability and other special needs condition can remotely receive care services right in their home instead of in hospital Telecare has enable this possible. Care providers have also benefits from the use of assistive technology in health and social care services. According to Joseph and Orr (2013), technology has reduced the burden of placed on the care. Wheelchair or a scooter can help Sally continue living an independent life without the needs of care worker being around every time. The work of care worker will only be check up to ensure everything is well. This enables the care providers to serve more people who are in need of their services. From the point raised above it is in order to say that, assistive technology play a key role in provision of supportive, preventive and responsive care services necessary for people to live independently. 2.1 explain health and safety considerations in the use of technologies in health and social care There are several health and safety issue associated with the use of assistive technology. These issues must b e taken in to consideration when choosing to use assistive technology. According to health and safety acts 1974, hospital, care home, and other care provider are under statutory obligation to provide a safe environment for the patient, employees and visitor of their facilities (HSE, 2003). Technology used in these facilities either to support independent living or for administrative works should therefore not cause any harm to service user, staff and visitors. When deciding on the use of technology in health and social care services, this Act must be taken into consideration. The technology used should promote safety rather that expose service user to health and safety risks. Sally’s assistive technology specialist should therefore take this into account when recommending the assistive devices to be used Equipment and system failure-assistive technology just as other form of technology can experience malfunction or failure at one point. The danger and risks such failure expose the service user to, maybe severe. It is therefore important to put in a mechanism in place to mitigate the health and safety issues that may arise from such malfunction or devices failure. There are several measures that can be taken by Sally’s assistive technology specialist and the caregiver to minimize the possible safety and health Risks associated with the use of assistive technology. The chances of sally falling due to her condition are higher that before and they are likely to increasing as her feet become more weak. In this case monitoring system will be needed to ensure falls are detected and appropriate action taken in the shortest time possible (Joseph and Orr 2013). Sally should also be educated and trained on how to use any assistive technology recommended to her. This would help minimizes the health and safety risks associated by incompetency in operating and handling the assistive devices. The social care worker should also ensure that the devices being used by Sally is always in working and proper condition. This can be achieved by conducting regular check up. Technician services may be needed in some case especially where complicated devices such as powered wheel chair is used. By doing so, the health and safety risks associated with devices malfunctioning and breakdown will be eliminated or reduced. 2.2 discuss ethical considerations in the use of technologies in health and social care There are several ethical considerations in the use of technology to health and social care services to support independent living. These considerations includes, autonomous, privacy and choice Autonomous of the services user is one of the principle guiding the health and social care services practice. However as noted by Eccles (n.d), some of the assistive technology used to support independent living may violate these principles. For example, the use of door sensor to detect and alert care giver wherever a person is about to leave home and ever prevent him from leaving home unsupported may violate that persons autonomous. It is therefore necessary to take into account the autonomous of the service user when deciding on the technology to use. Good. Privacy of patients or health services users is another principle that is core to services delivery. The use of assistive technology may however violate the privacy of the servicer user. For instance, many of assistive technology are designed to reduce the physical presence of caregiver in the home of the servicer user. However, a close monitoring of the situation is required to ensure the services user remain health and safe. To achieve this, Sensors and other monitoring devices such as CCTV are therefore needed. For instance sensors may fitted on the bed to alert the caregiver when the service user wake up, CCTV may also is installed to help monitor Falls and other risks (Perry et al 2010). Although this may be in the spirit of supporting independence living it may also be seen as violation of the patients’ privacy as every movement and action of the patients is monitored even when privacy is needed. When deciding on the assistive technology to use, it is therefore important to take the privacy of user into consideration. The services user should also be notified about any possible violation that might be unavoidable. The choice of patients should be observed at all time (VODG 2013). No assistive technology or devices should be forced on patients. It would be very unethical for health and social care to force patients to use a certain devices that is against his or her will. The health care professional should therefore discuss with Sally all the possible alternatives than are available to support her developing condition which includes walking stick, scooter, wheel chair etc. Sally should then be left to decide which devices she would like used on her. 2.3 explain the impact of recent and emerging technological developments on health and social care services, organizations and care workers The recent technological development in health and social care has not only affected the live of services users, but has also affected the care organization as well as the care worker Impact to health and social care service users As mentioned by VODG (2013), recent technological development has enable delivery of social care and health care services remotely. Telehealth has made it possible for user to be remotely diagnosis and medication prescribed to them through technology. This eliminated them for physical contact between the doctor and the patient. Telecare has also enable servicer user such as people with long term condition and people with disability receive social care remotely in their home. Again, the need for physical contact between the caseworker and the services user is eliminated. Telecare and Telehealth and enabled services user to receive care in their home as instead of hospital and care home. However, recent technological advancement such as telehealth and telecare is eliminating the needs for human contact which is paramount in health and social care services. Machine can never replace human, the emotional support brought by direct human contact is being compromised in favour of efficiency. Equally, the effectiveness of telecare and telehealth which are gaining popularity in UK has shown mixed reaction (Woolham, 2006). Furthermore system failure may put the life of servicer user in severe danger. For instance, take a monitoring system for instance; an occurrence of accident is likely to result to death if such a system failure and the accident go unnoticed. Impact to worker The use of technology in health and social care has also affected the way care worker do their job. As noted by, the use of Assistive technology for example has reduced the burden of care placed on care workers and caregivers. As mentioned by Liddell, (2008) the use of telecare in NHS is significantly changing the role of care worker. They are no longer required to keep visiting servicer user ion daily or regularly as it was before. Most of their time is now spend on preparing material and distribution of the right information to services user through established system of Telecare. According to Liddell, (2008), the use of technology in health and social care has also made it possible for easier scheduling and management of workload by care workers and health staffs. Impact to care organization Care organization has also been affected by the adoption of technology in health and social care. As mentioned by Liddell, (2008). The use of technology has forced care provider to rethink their system of services delivery. Technology has affected the procedure as well as practice used to be in used in organization. For instance the use of telecare requires the organization to have a system in place that enable remote exchange of data between service user and care workers as well as between care worker and other professionals. DH, (2013) noted that, the use of technology in health and social care services results to efficiency in operation. For instance, electronic recording keeping system has replaced the inefficient paper work system. With electronic system, cost as well as time efficiency is achieved. 3.1 identify the specific needs of an individual requiring support to live independently In case scenario 2, Maggie had already shown the sign of dementia. According to ADASS (2013), Dementia is a syndrome of disease occurring as result of brain damage. The disease is progressive and irreversible meaning that Maggie’s need for special support will increase as day go by. The disease is characterized by impairment of memory and judgment, impaired ability to reason and learn sensitivity to social interaction, high level of stress. people with dementia show sign of decline memory such as forgetting every day work, forgetting name previously known, difficult locating object etc, decline in cogitative skills such as mixing up day and night, wandering and getting lost etc, and decline in emotional control such as apathy, emotional liability, irritability among others. (Keeffe, J, O., et al, 2010). As mentioned by Alzeimer’s society (n.d) People with dementia may show and exhibit different behaviors. It is therefore important to carry out an individualized assessment needs .in our case scenario, Maggie’s has already shown decline in her cognitive skills. She can hardly distinguish day and nights. Also given the facts that she is an outgoing and active lady, she may exhibit characteristic such as wandering and getting lost, putting her life in more danger. A close monitoring and support is required to ensure her life is not at Risk. Due to her declining memory she may also not be in a position to take personal care such as dressing, bathing, brushing teeth as well as cooking. These therefore mean she will be in need of support in performing all of these and related tasks. As noted by Alzeimer’s society (n.d) people with dementia may feel vulnerable, feel worthless and lose sense of identity. The Maggie daughter and the entire family should therefore provide emotional support to help her to retain her worth and sense of identity. 3.2 make recommendations for how technologies might support the independent living arrangements There are several assistive technologies that can be used to support Maggie and people with dementia in general to live a more independent life. The lost memory ability can be compensated through the use of reminder devices. Hand held devices such as smart phones, and personal assistant devices can be program to provide verbal instruction and reminders (Bonner, and Idris 2012). For instance, they can be program to remind the patient to take shower, take medication, etc. it should however be noted that reminder devices are only effective at early stage of dementia such as in the Maggie case. Once the dementia become moderate, the user may lack the cognitive ability to use them. Maggie’s behaviours of wandering and moving around may put her in risk of injury and abuse both at home and outside home. There are several technologies that can be used to keep her safe. Alarm system can be used to alert the family or caregiver when she is in unsafe situation or places. For instance, the standard door alarm or sensor can be used to alert the family when she is leaving the house especially at night (Keeffe, et al, 2010). In order to prevent Maggie from getting lost, tracking devices such as Smartphone can be used to keep track of her movement. These would help track her position without upsetting her. However this should be discussed with her or his parent as doing so without consent may amount to violation of autonomous and choice principle as practice in health and social care services. (Keeffe, et al, 2010) Since Maggie is in the early stage of dementia, her ability to recognize dangerous situation may not be lost yet. A personal emergency response system can be used to provide her with a platform to seek help whenever in dangerous situation. It should however be noted that such response system will only be effective as long as her cognitive ability is still there. As she age, the ability to use the system is gone and such system become unreliable. As Maggie continues to age her memory ability continues to decline. This may make it hard for her to make or receive phone calls as her ability to remember phonebook contact is not there anymore. Some mobile phone and communication devices are however made to enable people with memory los receive and make call. Such devices may use a button to do all the function while other provide audio instruction, contact with large picture etc (Bonner, and Idris 2012). Such devices should be bought for Maggie in case her memory ability decline beyond recognizing name. 3.3 evaluate the usefulness of technology for users of health and social care services Technology has several benefits to the user of health and social care services. As noted by Beech and Robert (2008), the use of assistive technology for example has helped many individual with disability to live be more independent life. Social life of people with special needs has also improved courtesy of technology. Through technology people special needs can meet virtually with colleague, friends family life etc. these not only provide them with emotional support but also help them feel but of the society. The use of technology has also made it possible for people to live comfortably live in their home and receive care there as compared to being institutionalized. For instance through the telecare, care can be provided to Maggie without the need for her to attend hospital or care home. Telehealth has also made remote diagnosis and medication possible. People get diagnosis and medication without the need to get in health facilities (VODG, 2013) Technology is used to promote self management. People with long –term condition who need social and health care support are empowered platform to seek help in managing their condition. For instance, electronically portals enable members to receive information such as drug prescription get in touch with medical professional and seek other medical related information. Through search technology, people with long term condition live more independent and secure life as they know where to get help whenever they need one. Conclusion The point raised in this essay has shown that, people who lies on others for support e.g. people with disability, older population and people with long-term condition, can now live more independent life courtesy of advancement in technology. Despite this positive trend and advancement, it should be however noted that machine cannot replace human. The role played by human in supporting individual with special needs is also paramount. Machines should therefore not replace human but they should complement each other.