Last Updated on March 9, 2016

The South East Health Technologies Alliance (SEHTA) has published Technology and Innovation in Care Homes: The SEHTA Review. Care homes, both residential and nursing, are an indispensable component of the portfolio of long-term care options available in the UK. However, the rising needs of our elderly population during this period of austerity are creating huge challenges for the industry. The greater use of technology in care homes has, for many years, been proposed as a way of helping care homes to provide high quality services and improve their sustainability.

It is set against this background that Technology and Innovation in Care Homes: The SEHTA Review analyses the changing care environment and its impact on care homes. From the large number of pilot projects and trials, it also identifies what will make a difference to a care home. The Review describes the process that SEHTA has developed for eliciting requirements and selecting solutions through rigorous analysis of care home needs and thorough analysis of the costs and benefits for implementing technologies to meet those needs. It concludes that the evidence is available and that now is the time for technology in care homes and for owners to implement appropriate technology to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

The report’s summary says that, ‘There is a growing body of research showing that technology-enabled care services have the potential to reduce health and care costs, increase access and improve patient outcomes. However, there is also evidence that health and care practitioners and care home owners and managers have not embraced and benefitted from technology in the way that many other sectors have, such as banking.’

The full report is available on the SEHTA website here.