227/08 Social challanges s the basis for foresight - Gaia

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One important problem is how to keep a proper
level of hygiene in the living environment and the
person already slightly demented and/or suffering
from some physical incapability. The cleaning
of homes and washing of people requires a
large amount of physical work. A proper design
of bathrooms is important. Standard bathtubs are
generally not usable without additional features.
Showers are suitable for people who are capable
to move by themselves but when additional help
is needed these are no longer practical.
Routine cleaning at homes may be partially done
with robots. Air cleaners reduce amounts of dust
and even microbes and therefore, reduce also
some cleaning work. In any case, the problems
related to hygiene are still unsolved and innovative
solutions are urgently needed.
Even though the amount of workforce is decreasing
the need of human contact will never
decrease. There is only a limited capability of
technological solutions to help in this respect.
The efforts should be invested in a reduction of
routine bureaucratic and physical work in order
to free vital resources to provide a proper level of
personal care.
Home care decision makers’ opinion on future trends in care sector
% of decision makers stating “likely to be common within five to ten years”
(weighted according to market share)
46
46
49
64
74
78
93
20 40 60 80 100
Older people contact healthcare
provider via picture-based services
Passive alarm sestems in the clients
home will automatically alert the care provider
Vital sata of client will be remotely
monitoret
Mobile staff transmit data on the spot with
portable computer
Shared electronis care records will become
accessible by authorised parties
People in need of care will be members
of on-line self groups
Internet will be an important means of
information on health an care issues
© SeniorWatch
Figure 4.15. Conclusions regarding to the future adoption of technologies in health care.
Source: Seniorwatch
4.4 Roadmap
The use of technology in health and social care in
Finland is not as effective as it should be. ICT has
increased the productivity in industry and in
some services like banking considerably. Regrettably,
this has not been happening in public services.
There are many projects going on and a
considerable amount of money and effort has
been invested in poorly managed operations.
The poor organisation and tight budget of the
public social and health care sectors do not permit
well managed pilot studies. Even project based
extra funding does not help because there are not
people capable of investing sufficient time and effort
in piloting. In addition to this, practical tests
of a new radical idea also assume changes in the
practises of the organisation. This requires some
extra resources available within the organisation.
It is well known that these resources do not exist.
The silent (tacit) information of the organisation
cannot be extracted and apply in the improvements
of the ideas and new products. The results
of the Delphi questionnaire indicated that the specialists
rate Finland to be at the average level in
use of the advanced technology and at the level of
47