Tag Archives: Scotland
The careless make a mockery of care
There’s no escaping the fact that when you pay peanuts, you don’t always get Einstein.
By Helen Martin
Published on Monday 28 November 2011 12:06
LOCAL authorities in England are getting most of the blame following the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s year-long inquiry into home care of the elderly.
Although the inquiry didn’t cover Scotland, the situation is exactly the same here.
Care staff time is “bought” from agencies or funded in-house by local authorities, who also decree the amount of time a carer will spend on dressing, washing, feeding or doing whatever else is necessary for an old person. Sometimes that is as little as 15 minutes . . .
A computer program that helps dementia sufferers
Software shows dementia patient’s biography
A Dundee PhD student has developed a computer program that helps dementia sufferers communicate with their carer.
Dr Gemma Webster, 25, created software that holds a “multimedia biography” of the patient which carers can access through a touchscreeen.
The computing researcher said it would help busy care staff learn about the people they were looking after.
Research Councils UK has awarded Dr Webster £10,000 to help promote her “Portrait” project.
The software holds a digital timeline of key events in a patient’s life, along with a family tree and other personal information.
To really care we must focus on the outcomes
A policy introduced under a Labour administration now has far-reaching – and expensive – consequences for the Scottish government that will last long into the future.
17 November 2011
Plans to integrate health and social care across Scotland are being pushed ahead despite the fears of those providing the services that costs will spiral while quality may suffer. Maureen Ferrier reports
The Scottish government has its own directorate for health and social care integration whose purpose is “to ensure that where care is needed it is of high quality and is provided in a timely, efficient and effective way as close to home or a homely setting as possible”.
