October 30, 2006
Using digital media to access information and good practice for paid carers of older people
The provision of information services for paid care workers has lagged behind provision in comparable professions such as the health services, where a multitude of initiatives have been put in place . . . The spread of digital media, particularly since the advent of the World Wide Web (www)in the mid-1990s, has resulted in
health information being more widely available than ever before. UK government initiatives have been developed to harness digital media to deliver health-related information to the general public . . . This is not to mention the volume of commercially provided web-based information. There have also been many recent initiatives to improve timely and effective provision of information to clinical and other staff within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), notably the National Programme for IT in the NHS, which aims, over the next 10 years, to connect over 30,000 general practitioners (GPs) in England to almost 300 hospitals and give patients access to their personal health and care information . . . Recently a number of large-scale progammes for introducing innovative information technology (IT) solutions into local authority work have begun, such as the Project Nomad programme on mobile systems (www.projectnomad.org.uk) and the DigiTV programme for interactive TV (digitv.org.uk). Social care may eventually benefit from such initiatives, but until now there has been little investment in digital services and tools for those in social care professions.