CareTech Judge Q&A: Andrew Frith

Q: Which aspects of CareTech are you most passionate about and why?

Andrew: People, independence and choice.

I think technology has been massively helpful (and game-changing) in other sectors, and can be in the care sector too, but it must put people first. We have to ask the question whether technology will help people to live in a manner of their choosing, to go about their lives how they wish, and to get help when they need it, with the technology supporting them to do those things more easily.

Living independently at home is a great example where technology can monitor behavioural patterns and notify care-workers when there is a notable change which might require a care-visit.

Q: What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities for today’s care sector?

Andrew:  I would say in general there is an increasing isolation brought about by changing society; for example elderly parents tend not to live with their children, whereas 50 years ago that would have been the norm.

Families are often spread further apart, across countries in many cases, and increasing digitisation has meant that not long ago a visit to the shops was how products were bought, whereas now we can stay at home and have everything delivered to us….that kind of thing decreases human contact and leads to increasing isolation; factors which are so important in older adults, and cared-for people in general.

Introducing technologies that provide that contact / interaction with others is key to human wellbeing – we saw that perfectly demonstrated during the covid crisis – without communication tools like Zoom, Teams etc., many of us would have suffered even more from the enforced isolation.

Q: What benefits do you hope that CareTech will bring to Jersey?

Andrew: I think it boils down to the key things I mentioned above: focus on living-well, independence and choice. Just because someone has increased care needs in later life, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be living a fulfilling and rewarding life – technology can sometimes help bridge that gap, whether that is technology-enabled physical assistance (eg sound, sight, movement), or purely digitally-orientated support such as communications, medication reminders, or online communities.

I think we also have to recognise that what suits one person, doesn’t always suit others, and therefore ‘choice’ is an important aspect of digitisation – does the technology allow an individual to have more (or better) choices, or does it in fact digitally-restrict them in some way?

Jersey is a unique community, being island based, but with many family links across the seas to England, France and elsewhere, and I think that a digitally connected family/community is a great way of bridging distances between relatives, and reducing some of the factors of isolation.

I also believe that it is important to recognise those technologies have to be able to interact in an ecosystem of other technologies in order to provide maximum benefits …for example a medication reminder is useful, but it would be much more useful if that reminder had also triggered an automated re-ordering of the medication from the local pharmacy to be delivered before the individual ran out – that requires coordinated technologies that interoperate, and at the moment technologists tend to focus on the point solution (the medication reminder system) rather than the connected ecosystem.

I think solving those kinds of issues would bring so many benefits to the sector, and I think Jersey is better placed than most societies to make those links happen.