Telecare

This study explores the social, economic and technical opportunities and constraints to delivering new health and care services to residents in their own homes through the use of Information and Communication Technology (referred to here as 'telecare'). Trials in the UK, USA, Japan and mainland Europe are demonstrating the possibilities of delivering new services via video telephones and digital television sets directly to users in their homes.
Telecare is an innovative system for the delivery of health and care services. Its implementation is resulting in major policy issues cutting across traditional domains of housing, health and social services. It also raises wide-ranging social concerns over privacy, the possibility of isolation and the ethical use of new technologies. This new report provides an up-to-date analysis of the multiple and complex issues surrounding the implementation of telecare systems.
The key goal of telecare is to facilitate greater independence for users and improve the ability for carers to deliver a wider range of new and existing services. Based on the analysis of the barriers, risks, challenges and opportunities that telecare presents to care providers, the report is able to present recommendations for policy makers, and professionals, who have an ever increasing interest in using technology as a cost-effective way of improving the quality of life for people wishing to remain living independently in their own homes.
Under-researched issues that the authors identify and address include:


social: with respect to user needs of telecare services;
economic: the likely cost of care provision and savings for the implementation of telecare;
technical: the different types of telecare and inhibitors to its future development;
policy: actions for policy makers involved in the provision of care services.


This valuable review of the current literature will be essential reading for care providers and health professionals in the private and voluntary sector as well as housing providers and the academic community. It is also important reading for policy makers in government, equipment suppliers and manufacturers in industry, housing providers and charities concerned with older people.