Everon Guest Blog: Could the property sector do more to help social care providers to invest in technology enabled care?
Article written by Pete Kerly, VP of Global Sales and Marketing at Everon
A UK report on the role of the property sector in improving health caught our attention recently. Produced by the UCL Institute of Health Equity it provided a clear case for the importance of designing environments that promote independence, prevent illness and support people to age well. As a technology enabled care company with operations in the UK, Finland and Sweden, this report resonated with us, highlighting the broader picture of the challenges faced by those in society who need help the most.
We live at a time when inequalities in health have widened, and the NHS is under strain with not enough social and affordable homes being built. For those of us supporting health and social care delivery, we can also see the real challenges staff facing in continuing to deliver the highest quality standards of care despite limited budgets and a shortage of skilled staff.
This report came out just at the time that the UK government was announcing proposals to streamline the planning system and a new commission to reform adult social care in England. It’s an added driver for action alongside the adoption of the latest data led technology in the solutions required for the future way forward.
There’s a real opportunity with future housing design to not only make homes warmer and sustainable but to build in digital technologies that can make them safer too, leading to improvements in health and wellbeing for residents. Developers are already expected to contribute to the costs of local NHS provision. Could this be extended to technology enabled care (TEC) as part of the drive for a more prevention led model of care?
The next generation of TEC will provide housing associations and commissioners of services in other care settings with the data, trends and insights to meet the needs of future residents. This is where investment has the potential to reduce the cost of expensive hospital admissions, for example.
At Everon Group, we already provide intelligent data powered systems that are allowing care providers to be more efficient so that they can focus on tasks that matter, including supporting people most in need of care. We are developing products that embrace AI and machine learning that will allow more people to be independent for longer. Across the three countries in which we operate – Finland, Sweden and the UK, we’re already seeing an impact. Just imagine the potential if this technology was introduced into new build housing design from the start?
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