Transforming elderly care in Santander through innovation and community collaboration
The Santander City Council, through its Innovation department and in collaboration with municipal Social Services, was seeking innovative solutions for several years prior the conception and implementation of the eCARE project in 2019. It is a well-known fact that population aging in Europe is a growing phenomenon. It is not only a current and urgent need, but it is also predicted to overwhelm health and social services in the future. This is where the need for a disruptive solution arises, one that allows for reducing the disadvantage between service supply and the demand for solutions to struggle against aspects like unwanted loneliness or to provide greater and more personalized socio-health care. The city of Santander has one of the highest aging rates in Spain (it is among the 14 Spanish cities with the highest median age). The concept of the eCARE project, aimed at deal with frailty, covered the entirety of the needs raised, and the PCP format perfectly aligned with the type of solution sought, beyond conventional solutions and aiming for a significant leap forward.
How was the field testing?
After the first (design) and second (prototype) phases of the PCP, two companies with robust solutions were selected for phase 3, in which a pilot field test was to be developed. This third phase is the most important but also the most delicate, as it involves people, and this must be done with the greatest guarantees in all applicable legal aspects.
All the difficulties in managing and monitoring procedures contrast with the excellent reception the initiative received from the contacted individuals, both those who had some type of social assistance and were already within the scope of the City Council’s social services, and those contacted in civic centers. All participants appreciated the City Council’s concern in trying to improve social services, and most importantly: although the majority declared a low level of digital literacy, they did not show rejection towards the use of technology to increase the quality and quantity of service.
Due to time constraints within the project framework, the pilot development was considerably briefer than initially planned and desired by all, especially the participants. Evidence of this is that the degree of adherence to the proposed activities, mainly the taking of health measurements (weight, blood pressure, blood oxygen), was very high.
Results and lessons learned
Although at the time of writing this document, not all quantitative results are available, a significant set of results and lessons learned have already been obtained. Conducting field tests is complex, as laws and regulations for protecting individuals are currently evolving at a faster rate than average legislation. Any initiative must be carefully planned and secured, anticipating all possible barriers. Likewise, the duration of the pilot should not only be adapted to the expected evolution of the end users’ conditions but also to the characteristics of the applied solution and the professional resources available to conduct thorough tests. Regarding the applied solutions, it cannot be ignored that digital literacy is a significant barrier, and even the simplest technology, such as a remote control, constitutes an overwhelming obstacle for many older adults. Therefore, the design should always start from the user interface, and the technology should be transparent or invisible.
On the other hand, as a very positive aspect, the high willingness to participate and contribute to scientific development among the target population, in this case, older adults, can be highlighted. Personalized monitoring and increased interactions with individuals are directly a very important positive effect from a psychological perspective. The constant and periodic contact not only is a benefit by itself but it helps to do a close follow-up of the needs and the evolution of the frailty and be able to perform, perhaps small, buy very effective actions to soften the difficulties encountered by older adults.
