Digital puts humans in the spotlight

Healthcare systems continue to be encouraged to embrace digital while technology companies are enthusiastically embracing the challenge of changing the face of healthcare. Digital is seen the potential panacea for some challenges facing healthcare systems. It can improve efficiency, reduce workload and improve how healthcare meets patients expectations (e.g. access). Interestingly the increased focus on digital has also made us think more closely about the person. If everything can be done by technology it doesn’t mean that it should.

The human touch

Digital is making us ask some fundamental questions like what is the role of people and human contact in healthcare? There are no easy answers to this, after all it is person specific, dependent on context and likely to change with culture. In reality the use of technology needs to be based on what is trying to be achieved and where we value human contact as fantastically captured in the Tweet below.

In the UK there is a push for digital but we are also seeing more people spurred on by this to put a distinct focus on having the patient at the centre of the system through the various personalised care agendas. Social prescribing is potentially going to be a big part of this, especially with the announcement of the National Academy for Social Prescribing. Irrespective of the use of the term "prescribing" this initiative aims to galvanise communities and help people get more involved in "stuff" - physical activity, cafe conversations, art groups, and anything else. It’s as broad as that. The hope (backed by some  real world experience) is sparking an increased involvement in community based activities can improve peoples wellbeing and possibly even health.

The Academy has some very important tasks ahead such as generating evidence and ensuring quality, it includes:

• standardise the quality and range of social prescribing available to patients across the country
• increase awareness of the benefits of social prescribing by building and promoting the evidence base
• develop and share best practice, as well as looking at new models and sources for funding
• bring together all partners from health, housing and local government with arts, culture and sporting organisations to maximise the role of social prescribing
• focus on developing training and accreditation across sectors

The danger is that in doing this through a health service environment we try to structure and quantify what at the centre should be about people getting involved in things that are of interest to them and they enjoy doing.

Why the healthcare system?

Primary care is perhaps the natural home of social prescribing as it is an essential part of the community. Additionally the primary care clinical team regularly encounter, and so understand, the most vulnerable people in their locality. Of course the danger is that it does become a structured prescription. However, attending an activity a certain number of times at a certain frequency and then your cured is the wrong way to think about this and overlooks the human and community contact. Instead it’s helping people to be in touch with the community in a way that aligns with their interests and uses trusted people to do this.

In today's society it is natural to ask where can digital improve social prescribing. At a time where social prescribing is so new we need to be considerate in our approach and ensure people and communities remain central to social prescribing. However it's not uncommon for people to be lonely in busy places, there are people who are house bound or unable to engage in the community. In these cases digital can help through tools such as online communities and video calls, but we need to look at these specific circumstances and understand how we can help these people to still have human contact - which can be different from in person contact otherwise there’s potential to alienate and isolate some really vulnerable people.

Reinforcing people, communities and human contact

We are seeing a renewed focus on human contact, people and communities initiatives like the National Academy for Social Prescribing have the potential to ensure that we don't lose these important elements in our rush to modernise health and care however people are complex, chaotic and diverse so we shouldn't get caught up in the name but in the spirit.

The drive to digital is resulting in hard questions about the value or purpose of human contact. But we’re seeing initiatives and activities that aim to securely place people and communities and the centre of what is important. Human contact is an important aspect of health care and one unanticipated consequence with the drive to a greater focus on digital is an increase in the discussions on the value and need for human contact.

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