P u t t i n g p e o p l e f i r s t : t h e p e r s o na l i s a t i o n of Tele-support devices

Guy Dewsbury PhD www.gdewsbury.com

Key points for paper

The personalisation of service provision has been high on the agenda of government policy since 1998 and emphasised by WHO (2001 on) and emphasised in Putting people first (2007). With the current efficiency measures (Lansley, 2010), there will be less doctors and nurses to support growing older populations. Less health staff to treat and support more people = new ways of working. Medical services will have to be delivered in new forms using virtual environments. Older people and people with disabilities will have to embrace modern technology in order to be able to access medical assistance. One method of achieving the provision of health information is by the use of health portals, which can be either dedicated WebPages or devices that run bespoke wireless health communication application elements. A difficulty with any information source is the generic nature of the information provided. People with specific conditions will be able to obtain generic information on their specific conditions but what people really require is personalised information that can be bespoke to their own set of person circumstances. In order to personalise information there are a number of key issues that impede its implementation: 1) Complexity of providing personalised information to individuals 2) Cost of providing personalised information vs. the cost f not providing this personalised information. 3) Privacy and confidentiality issues a. Who has access to the information?

b. How can personalised information be personalised for each person within a family network? 4) Capacity and resource issues: a. Who is to update the information? b. How should the information be updated? c. Ownership of information who will take ownership of the personalised information? i. What happens when multiple people are updating personalised information? ii. Who can track and ensure that all the information provided to a person is current and relevant? d. Who is to ensure the information is accessible and usable? 5) What information is required? a. How would we find out? i. We cannot assume therefore, there is a generic need for information to be provided. ii. Everyone might need different information provided in a different form iii. How interactive should information be? Health information and Health promotion: positive health messages and personalised health messages might support preventative agenda and enable self-care How are these to be delivered? What is the best method? Should existing telehealth hubs be used for this purpose or should the app approach be used? Would older or disabled people want large screens? o Alternatively, touch screens or for everyday objects such as the TV to be the medium through which the services are delivered? o What about audio and visual requirements? Large screens Hifi quality sounds to hearing loops? Would the person want to speak to someone to interact verbally? What is required for multiple sensory impairements? Can and should this be addressed through technology? Should services be provided to this group with real people at the end of a video screen (NHSD (HD?))? Should the communication platform provide external communication to friends and family and have further generic qualities? How will the technology redefine the nursing role in providing information to patients? Will nurses and other medical staff want to use this form of technology?