EXCLUSIVE: It’s critical social care isn’t forgotten about in the AI revolution
Sameer Vartak, Chief Technology Officer of Lilli, explores the potential of AI to transform the health and care system.
In January, the government revealed major plans to transform the UK into an AI powerhouse. The secretary Peter Kyle said major tech companies ‘will have access to anonymised NHS data to train models’ and spoke of ‘turbocharging growth’, boosting living standards and creating a health system ‘fit for the future’.
This is certainly a step in the right direction at realising the potential of AI in answering the key changes of today – and the news should be met with real optimism. AI can help us diagnose diseases like cancer earlier, aid in drug discovery, support in evidence-based clinical decision making and drive significant operational efficiencies which can help tackle stretched resources. However, the promise of AI is significant in our care system too, and it is essential adult social care is not left behind the NHS in the AI revolution.
It is no secret that, like the NHS, local authorities are in firefighting mode – dealing with the demands of an ageing population, with increasingly complex demands, amidst huge resource and financial constraints. The challenges are simply so acute that the focus remains on the demands of today, rather than addressing the serious long-term impact of our demographic changes on state-funded social care.
While the sector has been crying out for reform, this still appears to be years away, by which time problems will have only compounded. Something must be done to ensure the public can get the help they’re entitled to, now and in the future. AI can help solve this – and already is.
Today, AI-driven technologies like Lilli are helping local authorities to better manage care needs. By monitoring people’s behaviours even when carers are not in the property, the technology can help evidence how someone is managing at home and work out care requirements. The AI can also pick up behaviour changes, such as someone becoming less mobile, and signal that a health or care intervention is required. This can support people to live safely in their own homes for longer and in doing so reduce care home referrals and hospital admissions – having a myriad of benefits across the entire health and care ecosystem.
Over time, AI can help us get ahead of the curve. It will help us not only deal more effectively with the health and care challenges of today, but – as we gather more data from diverse care settings – AI can enable organisations to forecast future needs and risk scenarios of demographic groups and facilitate true preventative care.
AI has the potential to help organisations predict and deliver interventions before issues arise. For instance, it could help us understand more clearly the likely progression of conditions like dementia comparatively based on different types of care pathways, or the best care package to help older people with frailty avoid going into hospital from a fall. Likewise, it could indicate how many beds will be needed in care settings in specific regions to reduce likelihood of ‘corridor care.’ Regional care boards, hospitals, and care homes across the country can use the insights from AI for resource planning, and defining more targeted, effective care packages earlier.
The impact AI could have on social care, as well as the NHS, is significant – on managing the rising demand and cost of care and enabling better resource planning, but more importantly on boosting living standards. It can help us support people to age with greater independence and dignity so that when the time comes that they need support, it is ready and optimised to best support them lead the most fulfilling life possible.
However, to achieve this, we need wider adoption of AI technologies across different care settings today to build these large data sets and models. And, importantly, we need the social care sector to be a central point of the government’s agenda for AI and taken as seriously as the NHS in the UK’s AI revolution.