The Socio-Technical Challenge of Caring for the Elderly at Home: A Diagnosis Without a Design Solution Ken Eason Emeritus Professor, Loughborough Design School, Loughborough University, UK Senior Consultant, The Bayswater Institute, London UK k.d.eason@lboro.ac.uk

The Need and the Problem There are growing numbers of: Vulnerable elderly people at home People with long-term conditions at home who may need complex health and social care The Problem In England Health and Social Care are separate services and support is offered through many different agencies We need integrated person/client/patient-centred care but we get… Fragmented and uncoordinated services Difficulties organising care packages Carers not knowing what others know or are doing Unnecessary admissions to hospital Difficulties getting out of hospital (‘bed blocking’) People being treated as specific health cases rather than as human beings

Programme Introduction: A Diagnosis of the Socio-Technical Problem – 30 minutes Group Work: Searching for Solutions – 30 minutes Review and Conclusions – 30 minutes

Who is involved in health and social care? Friends Voluntary Organisations Family Mental Health Patient/Client Carers Hospital Specialists Community Nurses Social Workers Ambulance Services General Practitioners Health Services Accident and Emergency Police Social Services

What people ask for To stay in their homes as long as possible To be kept safe at home To continue to make a contribution, self-manage their conditions and be independent To have a stable source of care that understands them To have a single route to specialist care when it is necessary

Aims and Issues The Aim: To create a sociotechnical system that delivers person-centric, integrated health and social care. Issues: The system that delivers care: Needs to be different for each person (different conditions) Uses resources from different agencies (different goals, systems etc) Uses resources from non-co-located agencies Needs to include a relevant role for the patient (family etc) Needs to cope with changing needs in the short term and the long term (‘stepping up’ and ‘stepping down’)

Citizen Care Journey

Searching for Solutions Our Group Aims: To outline socio-technical system solutions that would provide person-centred integrated health and social care for vulnerable people living at home To utilise any solutions being used/developed in other countries To identify key issues in the process of developing these solutions (getting from here to there) To articulate the socio-technical principles and processes that might inform these developments