Recipients Of Care ‘Responsible’ For Saying ‘This Is What I Want’, Says Industry Expert
A leading voice in social care has said there needs to be a rebalance between providers of care and those receiving it and said people receiving care had a ‘responsibility’ to say what they wanted.
Daniel Casson, MD of Casson Consulting, said ‘technology is not the end goal’ and is not designed to replace care workers and called for ‘a greater voice for people in care.’
Speaking to The Access Group’s ‘Redefining Care’ podcast, Daniel Casson said:
“Social care is evolving, but there’s also a quiet revolution around how people are prepared to look at new ideas and new ways of working.
“Technology can help us find new ways of caring. We need to achieve parity between the person providing the care, the organisation behind them, and the person receiving the care. The biggest innovation is how we involve all these people and give them parity of esteem.
“Social care is about helping people live as independently as possible, appropriate to their own situation. While I promote new technology and new ways of thinking, I also believe in joining up existing resources to create new ways of caring. Because technology is not the end goal.
“Care is no longer something that we deliver to people. There’s more of an equal relationship between the organisation, the person providing the care, and the person who receives the care. Care can be designed individually around the person. It’s the responsibility of recipients of care to say, “This is what I want.”
“A greater voice for people in care will change how professional carers work. We will have to be more adaptive, more agile regarding people’s wants to ensure they’re going to have the best quality of life that they can.
“We need to work together to ensure we don’t merely deliver care, but instead make sure the individual is cared for.
“We also need to think about the care workers. Recruitment and retention of people working in care must involve looking after their self-esteem. They are knowledgeable professionals who make a difference to people’s lives, and that should be valued. Care workers need to be helped to see themselves as professionals on a level with the health professionals and clinicians they work with.
“Over the next few years, I hope to see a rebalancing of care in the community and healthcare in the community together with the democratisation of healthcare. Social care organisations will realise their power to positively affect people’s well-being journey, which will lead to less need for acute interventions in people’s health care. Instead, community care and home care will deliver the services they need.
“What we’re doing with care technology is not reducing the reliance on people to deliver care. Instead, we’re helping people to deliver care in a more focused, intelligent and effective way.”
The next speaker on The Access Group’s ‘Redefining Care’ podcast is Liam Palmer, former care home manager and Founder of Care Tech Guide.
