Healthcare Workers and Innovative Technology

How innovative technology in healthcare can affect workers in this sector?

00:37 10 December 2018

Technology has a growing role in the healthcare sector. Technological advancements ranging from smart trousers to humanoid robots has provided invaluable assistance especially given the overstretched workforce and the ageing population. However, there are concerns that such technology could one day put workers in the healthcare sector out of work.   

 

Jonathan Rossiter, professor of robotics at Bristol Robotics Laboratory – a collaboration between the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE), said that there is nothing to fear. He explained that technology and workers could work hand in hand to improve treatment outcomes.

 

“It could be that you have a tech operative working within a care home … [or] a care professional who manages your care, but the care itself is delivered by devices,”

 

“This is one way to allay the fear of tech, to see that this is something that can help,” he said.

 

Jason Lamont, chief executive of Three Sisters Care, a London-based social enterprise homecare agency that took part in a three-year research project with the Bristol Robotics Lab, said they are reaping the benefits of using healthcare technology. He said that 300 of its staff have already integrated technology into their jobs, for example, by completing care assessments on tablets, not paper. He adds: “In the old days, staff would phone in to prove they’d arrived or left an appointment ... now it’s all done via an app and QR scanners.”