Day: June 13, 2018

3. Role of technology : in transforming how care is delivered

While the title suggests this was the  ‘main stage’ focus, it was not. No criticism intended just a fact! But for our profession this was a silver lining, an opportunity to unpick our core skills and see how they fit in the wider strategic directions and challenges. I did not feel compartmentalized to the “tech people” it didn’t box me in, rather opened up scope of opportunity and clarity on viable direction for the profession. It clearly highlighted technology is moving at a pace that is similar to sound …fast!!! It quite rightly challenged the question “are we technology ready”? The analogue is soon to be switched off which means the 1.7 million people in the U.K that  currently rely upon a response to technological services that are connected to analogue need to have confidence it is fit for purpose.

Paul confidently demanded that as a society we need to absolutely know that internet protocol services are affective and responsive to not only offer a reliable response but also to maximize technology to enable people to live empowered and independent lives.

In keeping with Paul’s theme an indication of where Occupational therapists can not only make a difference but add value and impact is in within maximizing the potential and purpose of technology within the home and surrounding community. Paul quoted statistics that state in the very near future on average a household will rely and interact with 29 different internet based devices, the current figure is 8. While recognized to be a game changer and a place to develop innovative roles Paul urged Occupational Therapist to recognise core skills to be part of the development trend within this network.

He explained that the role of technology is to not only deliver, safe effective, responsive, enabling support but to deploy the bend the health care cost curve. Paul made a clear reference at this stage to the Royal College Of Occupational Therapy publication Strategic Intentions 2018- 2023 that outlines the professions commitment to developing practice that embraces technology advancements and preserves the foundation of the profession.

Paul cited Occupational Therapists as a profession that will utilise technology to promote purpose and function to support healthier lifestyles and wellbeing. I did of course afford him the lapse in language term as it is easy for a non-Occupational Therapist to use these terms and indicate we are promoting purpose. We know as an Occupation Therapist it is indeed Occupation, the doing that makes a real difference to the narrative that integral and vital for health, wellbeing and self-reported good quality of life.

4. Re-design Care

I would say a large proportion of the presentation incorporated the concept of a need for service re-design. Paul cited several factors such as the challenges and opportunities of extended longevity, funding, projected deficit in workforce supply, technology advancements and the heroic healthcare culture to “fix it” that are creating a re-think.

Paul proposed the question “Is it business as usual?” or” is it time for change”? He clearly presented arguments for the latter to be his personal and professional  viewpoint. He called for a person centric not system centric approach, stating “we need to get it right now”. He believes our profession has the core philosophies, theories and values  to lead on change and design pathways that seek to understand via a ‘wellbeing lens’ that supports preventative, enabling and purposeful  approaches.  Strong  principles of ‘ what matters to you’ ?  as the beacon of direction. He was not critical of the traditional biomedical model of ‘what is wrong with you?’ but proposed an overwhelming need to look at other more whole person models of care.

He stated an asset based approach in the care system is needed.  He referred to Occupational Therapists as asset workforce, the expert professionals who skillfully bring a person’s occupational story alive. We find purpose, meaning and identity. He recognised our unique selling point is to understand participation, purpose and occupation and its value in engaging people with goal orientated interventions.

Paul advocated for change but called for caution to not take a” bolt it on” approach to redesign. Paul called for a rise in disruptors as opposed to disruptive, he saw our profession as key people who can prevent something especially a system or process from continuing as usual, he believes we should be relevant, strategic and implement our core skills upon change in the care system. He encouraged ambition!

In summary Paul delivered an obviously well-rehearsed, experienced, effective, diverse, informative, thought provoking, inspiring and jam-packed presentation that championed Occupation Therapy as the potential game changers to the challenges and opportunities with health and social care needs of the population.

For me it reinforced the value and impact of my profession. I believe passionately it works, my beliefs are so deep rooted they could be found at my cellular level! It highlighted we are change makers and must seize the moment to strategically plan services to embrace the need for understanding what matters to human beings, that we engage in interventions to understand and facilitate meaningful occupations, strife to put occupation in the heart of our communities.

Written by Marie Barstow

Any questions feel free to contact me on twitter: @mrsbaistow

Paul most definitely had his three shredded wheat yesterday morning. The title did not do the content justice. Paul’s underlining direction of the multi-faceted presentation was ‘How will care be fit for the 21st century’? He emphasised that the design and delivery needs to both meet the challenges and the priorities of wellbeing, where quality of life is central.

Paul is extremely well placed and experienced to voice views on the direction and needs of social care service design. He was an MP for 18 years for two of those years (2010-2012) held the position of Minister of State for the Department for Health. He is current Chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence and the CEO at Travistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. He is also president of Telecare Services Association an industry body for technology enabled care. (https://www.tsa-voice.org.uk/paul-burstow-tsa-president)

Paul clearly presented his values and vision throughout the presentation which are valued based and co-production focused. He views Occupational Therapists as having instrumental key roles within the future he envisages.

I found it a real challenge with my dyslexic brain to write a summative blog on such a jam-packed session. I decided to group the four key areas Paul linked to his objective of the event.

Within the 40 minutes there were over 30 slides, I lost count! A 4min 30 second awesome video and nonstop well-paced and engaging narrative. It included endless stats and research findings, political trends, population profiles, food for thought, challenges on status quo and a vision of whole a person-centered approach.

The title never met expectation …it blew it out of the water. The core message was a ‘need for change, now ‘ and Occupational Therapists are the profession to take an instrumental lead and impact upon this if strategic, relevant and proactive.

Paul clearly understands the value, core principles and theories of Occupational Therapy. It never felt tokenistic, it was genuine and recognized the potential impact and growth for our profession. He actively encouraged ambition to lead on designing and co-delivering services that support intrinsic human need to be occupied in a meaningful and purposeful way.

There was effective use of pictorial slides which maximized the impact of each individual key take away messages. There where so many and most presenters would not be able to successfully execute so much content and take away messages, that delivers humor, engagement and buy in, but he di! My head is still buzzing a little from this but all good and inspiring.

He offered four key areas as the overarching themes that highlighted the challenges and opportunities for Occupational Therapists. These were :

1. Healthy ageing
2. Safe Social Care
3. Role of technology
4. Re-design of care

1.Healthy Ageing

A positive message he shared was to see an ageing population as an opportunity for the profession. Yes there is a profound change in age demographics that have serious impact upon health and social care provision, at the NHS’s100th birthday year (2048) there will  be a 100,000 people aged a 100 and over in the U.K.

Paul proposed it would be forward thinking not to focus upon the challenges related to increased longevity and the related health and social care economic arguments rather recognize and acknowledge these challenges but focus upon the opportunities it delivers, especially to the profession of Occupational Therapy.

Paul presented a slide that depicted the 100 year cycle for a person of such age in today. The diagrams upon the slide illustrated a multi staged life filled with potential for multi journey options and experiences.

He referred to a recent trip to America where he met at a campus residing student of 80 years old. It was an alternative approach and vision of residential care. The student was healthy, happy and self-reported great quality of life. Paul noted our society values and extent of bias may be creating barriers to our own plans that facilitates an 80 year old student to life on campus as opposed to traditional residential care home.

Self-bias and society’s perspective on ageing needs challenging and exploring. There is evidenced to indicate that if you label a product towards an older person, the older person stops buying it. This suggests that societal views or bias about ageing is a barrier to wellbeing in later years or at least fosters self-bias to ageing. Research directly attributes this to a negative impact upon engagement and outcomes of services designed for Older People. I suppose simply put post 65 the client group deemed Older People can become their own internal demise towards intervention and valued occupations.

Paul was very clear longevity costs cannot be put off.  Poorly managed co-morbidities and complex needs of older people vastly increase costs of care.

 2. Safe Social Care

A ‘mind the gap’ slide clearly brought to the room the stark realization that by 2025 to just stay still, i.e. provide the current social care provision  as now, there will be a 2.6 billion pounds short fall. Paul indicated research of fiscal studies shown there needs to be a 50% increase in gross domestic product from 1% to 1.5% to meet financial burden in social care.

Paul stated he felt this was wholly achievable but demands within the current political climate may not share his views. Paul strongly advocated for financial equity between health and social  care, he clearly recognized the Nhs has its own funding demands ,he wished for a suitable70 th birthday gift in the means of funding for the astounding and cherished Nhs but equally noted while the Nhs” may get the cake, social care will inevitably get the candles”.

The whole presentation repeatedly made multiple reference to disproportionate social care funding, Paul stated that social care has lived within the shadow of health for far too long, him eloquently and arguably proposed funding for both needs of health and social needs are equally a priority going forward.

Paul offered the notion ‘ providing care HOW?’  While he did not deliver the answer he clearly delivered the message that there is potential for change to impact upon a person’s wellbeing, a life worth living not merely existing. He advocated for a proactive not reactive approach has to under pin and direct the future of care.

The demand for care workers is outpacing domestic supply- retention, recruitment and experience are ongoing challenges within the care sector. By 2025 there will be a shortfall of 1.83 million care staff in adult social care.  Paul once again identified Occupational Therapist as the profession with the skills and knowledge to have a positive impact upon on these statistics. He is confident that the core Occupational Therapy skills can design successful recruitment, retention and educational programs at local and national level to not only deliver a skilled care workforce but promote the resilience and staying power a worker needs to exist and flourish within  in  such personally challenging work environments.

 continued in Blog 10b…… 

Written by Marie Barstow

Any questions feel free to contact me on twitter: @mrsbaistow