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You and Yours - Transcript 大象传媒 Radio 4 |
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TX: 30.01.08 - Telecare PRESENTER: LIZ BARCLAY |
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Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 大象传媒 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. BARCLAY Now video phones, emergency cord pulls worn round the neck, bed sensors linked to remote call centres - just some of the technology being billed as part of the solution to the mounting crisis in social care, that we've been covering for the past month as part of our Care in the UK season. The theory is that by using such technology or telecare elderly or disabled people can carry on living independently for longer. There are concerns about the loss of human contact and CSCI - the social care watchdog - is warning that telecare must not be used as a cost cutting exercise. But more than a million people are already using some form of telecare and we asked the 大象传媒's age and disability correspondent - Geoff Adams Spink - to find out how some of them are getting on. ACTUALITY I didn't put so much sugar in this time because you've got to be on a diet. ADAMS SPINK Wally and Edna Burton, a retired couple in their late '70s, enjoy an afternoon cup of tea in their Bedfordshire home. Wally was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in his 50s and Edna has become his main carer. If it wasn't for the technology installed in their house Mr Burton may well have had to move into residential care by now. EDNA BURTON This is our bedroom and Wally has a bed sensor which is situated under the mattress, just move that back, you can see it's in that position. As he gets into bed the sensor is aware that he's there. If he rolls out or falls out the sensor immediately knows that the pressure has gone and it will send an alarm through to the care support system. ADAMS SPINK In Wally and Edna's case the bed sensor is linked to a call centre which can then summon further assistance if required. The Burtons are part of a growing trend - people who have various pieces of equipment that's collectively known as telecare. Edna says without the technology her sleep would constantly be disturbed. EDNA BURTON I would have to wake up every - perhaps every one and a half hours, every two hours, just to make sure that Wally is Okay. Now I can go to bed, I can go to sleep - in fact I think the bed sensor has been a good thing because he knows that the alarm will go off and so he doesn't actually want to get out of bed. ADAMS SPINK The technology is a way of enabling those at risk of injury to live independently for longer. For Wally and Edna the role out of telecare came through a partnership between Bedfordshire County Council and Aragon Housing Association. Aragon supported housing manager, Helen Edwards, told me how the technology is used to help older people. EDWARDS We have quite a large number of clients who have dementia related illnesses, so it's about keeping those people safe and able to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. ADAMS SPINK And what sorts of technologies are available and that you use to keep them that way? EDWARDS Predominantly bed sensors and door entry and exit alarms for clients with dementia related illnesses. Other alarms that we use are environmental sensors - smoke alarms, temperature extremes alarms, fall detectors, chair occupancy sensors, flood sensors - those are used routinely. ADAMS SPINK With one eye on potential cost savings the government is keen that more people benefit from telecare. Over the past two years the Department of Health has made £80 million available to social services departments in England who are prepared to embrace the technology. According to Dr Kevin Doughty of York University the UK is uniquely well placed to build on its past achievements. DOUGHTY Following the Second World War local authorities took a lead in developing housing - sheltered housing - if you will which were the ideal small apartments needed by a high level of widows to live in during the 1950s, '60s and indeed in the 1970s. They needed to communicate in the event of an accident or an emergency, often to their own resident warden. Telephones were something of a rarity so the community alarm system evolved and it's from that basic infrastructure that we've been able to build a world's leading telecare service. ADAMS SPINK So telecare with its plethora of sensors all monitored by call centre staff could be part of the answer to the mounting crisis in social care. Too many older and disabled people supported by too few care staff. SUPPORT WORKER Hi Sharon, how are you? SHARON Oh fine Maggie. ADAMS SPINK And it's not just older people who can benefit. Sharon Carden has learning difficulties and lives by herself in Littlehampton on the South coast. She's supported by a charity called United Response, which as part of a pilot scheme has installed video screens into a number of homes so that people can get help with daily living. Sharon makes a video call to her support worker who helps to compile the weekly shopping list. SUPPORT WORKER Right have you got any tea? SHARON No I've got no tea bags at all. SUPPORT WORKER Okay so do you want to put tea? SHARON How do you spell it? SUPPORT WORKER T. SHARON Yeah I've put the T. I've always been independent ever since I lived with my parents but now I'm here, me own flat, I can be more independent, do as I want when I want. ADAMS SPINK And do you think this video technology gives you much better freedom then? SHARON Yes I think it does. It's brilliant. I like the technology which I never knew before and I just think it's fantastic. There should be other people should have it, not just us. ADAMS SPINK The video technology isn't just about mundane domestic tasks. Sharon used to live with her friend Emma who now has the same video phone. Because they live a few miles apart they use their telecare equipment to stay in touch. ACTUALITY - CONVERSATION BETWEEN SHARON AND EMMA They had the skate off last night, didn't they. It was on the last bit wasn't it. ADAMS SPINK While acknowledging the undoubted benefits that telecare can bring campaigning organisations, like the National Centre for Independent Living, are concerned that local authorities will be lured by potential cost savings at the expense of human-to-human contact. Wendy Gross of NCIL says telecare should be seen as part of the solution and shouldn't be seen simply as a way of saving money. GROSS I think increasingly, as there's more and more pressure on community care budgets, social service is going to be looking for options that are much more cost effective. I think what NCIL is going to having to be doing is to be looking and making sure that cost cutting exercises are not disempowering the individual, so that we're making sure that disabled people are still supported effectively and that they're not being isolated because of budget cuts. ADAMS SPINK Dr John Woolham, who has considerable experience using telecare to assist people with dementia, is another concerned voice. WOOLHAM Everything that I've ever tried to do in relation to this is to emphasise the need not to use technology as a substitute for social care. There are real risks that it may be used in this way as local authorities struggle to balance budgets. I think it's very important that telecare is used as an adjunct to social care rather than a substitute because it will compound existing loneliness and isolation that many people with dementia face. ADAMS SPINK What's certain is that as technology becomes cheaper and high speed internet connections are as common as telephone lines more and more of us can look forward to a future that includes telecare and it's a high tech vision that academics like Kevin Doughty from York University welcome. So could we one day have some of our care provided by domestic robots? DOUGHTY We certainly have to consider it because that's effectively what many companies are now developing and we're not talking about small university groups here, we're talking about the car manufacturers, the big electronics companies, the Toshibas of this world. They are developing specific domiciliary care agents, they will do simple tasks I think - things that we would like to have performed any time that we want, in other words we don't want to be left going to the toilet when the carer is able to take us, we want to perform simple activities of daily living when we need to do them. ADAMS SPINK And Imelda Redmond, at Carers UK, says she too is looking forward to an active, almost interactive, retirement with technology playing a significant part but very much in the background. REDMOND What I would like is to be able to move freely round my own home, freely round my environment, to be able to keep in contact with my family and friends, I'd like to be able to see my family and friends, physically but also electronically. I would like to be able to eat good food and have a good laugh and have some nice wine. That's what I want it to be - something that's just in the background that enables ordinary life, in the way that we've accepted mobile phones and computers as completely normal, you know I'm hoping that that level of independence will be there for us and feel seamless. BARCLAY Imelda Redmond ending that report. So how would you feel about being cared for by a domiciliary care agent? Have your say on the Radio 4 message board, just follow the links from You and Yours to Care in the UK where you can find more details of all our items in the care season and download podcasts of our latest reports including this one. Back to the You and Yours homepage The 大象传媒 is not responsible for external websites |
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